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Derek WalcottA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The speaker and central character of “The Schooner Flight,” Shabine is continually displaced from any kind of normative identity. Despite how he “lov[es] these islands” (Line 28), he also finds “they had started to poison [his] soul” (Line 30) with their corruption and racism. Even Shabine’s name is a “nickname […], the patois for / any red n*****” (Lines 37-38) of his racially diverse background. That the character is only referred to by this racial epithet suggests the process by which he constructs an identity out of a variety of cultural backgrounds. Instead of bucking the nickname, Shabine reaffirms it and claims it as his own name, mirroring his combination of cultures: “I have Dutch, n*****, and English in me” (Line 42). This variety leads him to claim, “either I’m nobody, or I’m a nation” (Line 43), pointing to both his multiplicity and his exclusion from any singular identity.
Shabine’s socio-cultural standing is characterized by liminality, a state of in-betweenness. The sailor makes this explicit, writing that people of color “said I wasn’t black enough for their pride” (Line 155), while white people “chain my hands and apologize, ‘History’” (Line 154). Even when he “met History once, […] he ain’t recognize me” (Line 160).
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