Ensuring the Silence: The Effects of ‘Naming’ on the Caribbean Colonized

Despite the attempts at silencing the history of the colonized the slaves held firmly to their identities in many different ways. One way some slaves did this was to continue the practice of giving their children a secret name at her birth. Mary Pleasant’s mother gave her two names at birth, one for public use and “…her obtrusive, secret name was spoken, in which she received her soul” (130). Secret names can’t be taken away from you and ensures that your true self will always be protected.

The colonized also frequently changed their names. Mary Ellen christens Annie with a new name when Annie joins the abolitionists group. She tells Annie, whose birth name was “Regina (pronounced with a long i)” (20), “…for heaven’s sake, take a nom de guerre fit for a woman” (25). Mary Ellen chooses the name of a former abolitionist who she describes as, “Six feet, eight inches tall, weighing two hundred pounds. You may have her name” (26). In this instance, Cliff emphasizes the act of naming as a necessity for being strong in the face of adversity. Annie is given the name of a strong and courageous woman in an attempt to infuse Annie with the strength she will need for the enterprise.

This concept is illustrated again when Mary Ellen renames herself to fit a particular situation. Cliff tells us that Mary Ellen was called Mrs. Pleasant in her establishments, “as she preferred to be addressed, although many in the city insisted on “Mammy” (102). When Mary Ellen died, her defiant silence was ensured because “they did not seek the likes of her, someone they called Mammy Pleasant” (197). Mary Ellen uses the title “Mrs. Pleasant” to identify herself as a respectable citizen but relies on the name the colonizers use for her – “Mammy Pleasant” – to hide her when in danger.

In addition to the above methods of ensuring the silence, fake names were often employed as a means of protection. Cliff has Mary Ellen’s father, Captain Parsons, naming his ship the Daedalus, the alter ego of James Joyce and the mythical character who built the maze from which hero Theseus escaped. This example of naming is more apt when one realizes that Captain Parsons is a highly skilled con artist who runs a secret escape route for slaves on his ship.

Further, one of the lepers in the leper colony remarks, “Names are extremely important…They tell us so much” (53). While names tell us so much, they also hide secrets within the silences created by the legacy of slavery and colonialism. But sometimes names are not important. This is illustrated when Captain Parsons issues a fake name to the Red Coats when they confront him. In this case it appears that Parsons uses fake names as an actual silencing, a refusal to play the game. When asked his name he gives out three different names before the Red Coats finally decide to take the one they feel suits a slave. Parsons tells the officers, “What’s in a name, Lieutenant? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. They call me ‘Romeo’” (115). In this instance, names are unimportant because the colonizers will use the name they want to use anyway. The act of naming becomes superfluous.

Finally, while the colonizers believed they could break the spirit of the slaves by renaming them, the slaves perfected the art of breaking the silencing of their identities, of their inheritances, by renaming themselves into history. All attempts at ensuring the silencing of a race failed in the end. They would be heard. Their names would be remembered. They would break the silence and the future would be theirs.