Theme of Identity: A Study of Andrea Levy’s The Long Song

Abstract

The Long Song (2010) is a contemporary Caribbean neo-slave narrative written by Andrea Levy.  The novel revisits the period of slavery in the early nineteenth century Jamaica depicting the experiences of a slave girl, July at Amity - a sugarcane plantation in Jamaica.  Written in the background of a famous Jamaican slave rebellion, the Baptist War erupted in 1831, the abolition of slavery in 1833 and its aftermath, the novel details the life of the slaves on Jamaican plantations before and after the period of emancipation. Replete with the theme of identity, the novel explores the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of the characters on the plantations where the British class system is largely in vogue. Thus, the paper shall explore the identity of the slaves in the Caribbean which is greatly affected by the British social hierarchy. It shall also focus on how the British class system begins to lose its potential and importance in Jamaica after the Baptist War.