To Da-duh, in Memoriam

To Da-duh, in Memoriam is an autobiographical story told from the point of view

of an adult looking back on a childhood memory. The story opens as the nine-yearold narrator, along with her mother and sister, disembarks from a boat that has
brought them to Bridgetown, Barbados. It is 1937, and the family has come to visit
from their home in Brooklyn, leaving behind the father, who believed it was a waste
of money to take the trip. The narrators mother first left Barbados fifteen years
ago, and the narrator has never met her grandmother, Da-duh.
Although an old woman, the narrators grandmother is lively and sharp. When she
meets her grandchildren, Da-duh examines them. She calls the narrators older
sister lucky, but she silently looks at the narrator, calling the child fierce. She
takes the narrator by the hand and leads the family outside where the rest of the
relatives are waiting. The family gets in the truck that takes them through
Bridgetown and back to Da-duhs home in St. Thomas.
The next day, Da-duh takes the narrator out to show her the land covered with fruit
orchards and sugar cane. Da-duh asks the narrator if there is anything as nice in
Brooklyn, and the narrator says no. Da-duh says that she has heard that there are
no trees in New York, but then asks the narrator to describe snow
To Da-duh in Memoriam | Author Biography Marshall was born on April 9, 1929, in
Brooklyn, New York, the child of Barbadian immigrants who were among the first
wave of Caribbean islanders to relocate to the United States. Her early life was
suffused with Caribbean culture; she spoke its language and followed many of its
traditions. Marshall made her first visit to the Caribbean when she was nine years
old, which inspired her to write poetry.
After graduating from high school in 1949, she attended Brooklyn College (now part
of the City University of New York). She graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in
English...
To Da-duh in Memoriam | Characters Da-duh
Da-duh is the narrators eighty-year-old grandmother. She has lived her whole life
on Barbados and is confident and proud of her lifestyle, surroundings, and ways of
looking at the world. She dislikes the trappings of the modern world, such as any
form of machinery, and is uncomfortable in the city of Bridgetown. When Da-duh
first meets the narrator, the narrator imagines that she saw something in me
which for some reason she found disturbing. However, Da-duh also feels
connected to her granddaughter, as evidenced when she clasps her hand
Nothing endures but change (Heraclitus 540-480BC). People are born, only to die
again. In a never-ending cycle of life and death, new ideas replace older ones and
an evolution of perspectives takes place. Paulle Marshall aptly portrays this cyclical
nature through her last line she died and I lived referring to her grandmother. The
death is not physical alone. It is the death of old ideologies, dated traditions and

disparate acceptance of modernization. In a vivid recollection of her grandmother

Da-Duhs reluctance to accept change during Paulles childhood visit, she narrates
how the old lady loathes urbanity and finds delectation in her little island of natural
beauty. The interactions that the narrator has with her grandmother remind us of
the passage of time between generations. The demise of Da-Duh signifies the
change that is inevitable, the transition from the old to the new. Symbolism Paulle
Marshalls work is replete with a richness of literary devices like symbolism, imagery
and metaphors. Describing the foreboding character of death, the narrator feels
that the planes that bring death to the little village are swooping and screaming
monstrous birds. The sugarcanes that grow in the village are Da-Duhs delight and
also the reason for the exploitation in the village. The pride of Da-Duh, the
sugarcanes appear threatening to the narrator she feels that the canes are
clashing like swords above my cowering head. This is a description of the duality
of life. Where there is joy, there is pain and when there is life, death is bound to
follow. Imagery The life-death antithesis is depicted in the closing lines of the book
where the narrator paints seas of sugar-cane and huge swirling Van Gogh suns and
palm trees [in] a tropical landscape . . .while the thunderous tread of the machines
downstairs jarred the floor beneath my easel. Light is identified by the surrounding
darkness and life, by death that eventually follows. The transient nature of life is
evidenced by the changes that happen over a period of time. Deaths morbidity
invades the colorful mind. The narrator imbues the readers mind with images that
allude to this dark reality. All these trees.Well, theyd be bare. No leaves, no fruit,
nothing. Theyd be covered in snow. You see your canes. Theyd be buried under
tons of snow. Metaphor With a judicious use of metaphors, the narrator has drawn
us to the reality of inevitable changes that our lives are subject to. Again, the
sugarcanes are metaphorically perceived as the ominous danger that ...would
close in on us and run us through with their stiletto blades. Later, the planes that
cause the death of her grandmother are visualized by the narrator as the hardback
beetles which hurled themselves with suicidal force against the walls of the house
at night. She points at our dogmatism in accepting the fact that the world is
constantly changing. Those who fail to see this at first, experience it the hard way
later. Conclusion However prejudiced we might be, towards change, the hard-hitting
reality of a life-death cycle is inevitable. Time stands testimony to this fact. Paulle
Marshall has illustrated this through the depiction of conflicting ideas between her
and Da-Duh and she conveys this message at the start when she writes, both
knew, at a level beyond words, that I had come into the world not only to love her
and to continue her line but to take her very life in order that I might live.
To Dah-Duh in Memoriam - Literature Notes SUMMARY
This short story is about a young girl's visit, from New York, to the island of
Barbados. The protagonist, along with her sister and mother, visit Dah-Duh. The
visit is an interesting one in which Dah-Duh and the protagonist develop a caring,
yet competitive, relationship. Dah-Duh introduces her to the riches of Barbados
(nature), while the protagonist introduces her grandmother to the steel and
concrete world of New York (industrialism). There is a competitive edge to their
conversations because they each try to outdo each other on the merits of their
separate homes. Dah-Duh, however, is dealt a blow when she learns of the

existence of the Empire State building, which was many stories taller than the
highest thing she had ever laid her eyes on Bissex Hill. She lost a little bit of her
spark that day and was not given a chance to rebound because the protagonist left
for New York shortly after. The story progresses with the death of Dah-Duh during
the famous 37 strike. She had refused to leave her home and was later found dead,
on a Berbice chair, by her window. The protagonist spent a brief period in penance,
living as an artist and painting landscapes that were reminiscent of Barbados.
SETTING
The story is set in Barbados, in the 1930's.
CHARACTERS
Dah-Duh:
A small and purposeful old woman.
Had a painfully erect figure.
Over eighty (80) years old.
She moved quickly at all times.
She had a very unattractive face, which was stark and fleshless as a death mask
(Marshall, p.178).
Her eyes were alive with life.
Competitive spirit.
Had a special relationship with the protagonist.
Protagonist:
A thin little girl.
Nine (9) years old.
A strong personality.
Competitive in nature.
Had a special relationship with Dah-Duh.
THEMES
Race:
This theme is apparent when Dah-Duh and the protagonist discuss the fact that she
beat up a white girl in her class. Dah-Duh is quiet shocked at this and exclaims
that the world has changed so much that she cannot recognize it. This highlights
their contrasting experiences of race. Dah-Duhs experience of race relations is
viewing the white massa as superior, as well as viewing all things white as best.
This is corroborated at the beginning of the story when it was revealed that DahDuh liked her grandchildren to be white, and in fact had grandchildren from the
illegitimate children of white estate managers. Therefore, a white person was someone to be respected, while for the protagonist, white people were an integral part of
her world, and she viewed herself as their equal.
Love and family relationship:

This story highlights the strong familial ties that exists among people of the
Caribbean, both in the islands and abroad (diaspora). The fact that the persona and
her family left New York to visit the matriarch of the family, in Barbados, highlights
this tie. The respect accorded to Dah-Duh by the mother also shows her place, or
status, in the family. The protagonist states that in the presence of Dah-Duh, her
formidable mother became a child again.
Gender Issues:
This is a minor theme in this short story. It is highlighted when it is mentioned that
Dah-Duh liked her grandchildren to be boys. This is ironic because the qualities that
are stereotypically found in boys - assertive, strong willed, competitive - are found
in her grand daughter. An example of this is the manner in which the protagonist /
narrator was able to win the staring match when she first met Dah-Duh, this proved
her dominance and strength.
SYMBOL
Empire State Building
This building represents power and progress. It is in the midst of the cold glass and
steel of New York city and, therefore, deforms Dah-Duhs symbol of power; Bissex
Hill. It is not by accident that the knowledge of this building shakes Dah-Duhs
confidence. Steel and iron, the symbol of progress, is what shakes the nature loving
Dah-Duh. It can, therefore, be said that her response to the knowledge of the
existence of the Empire State Building defeat is a foreshadowing of her death.
This is the case because it is metal, in the form of the planes, that rattled her trees
and flatten[ed] the young canes in her field. (Marshall. p.186). This is a physical
echo of her emotional response to the knowledge of the existence of the Empire
State building. The fact that she is found dead after this incident is not a surprise to
the reader.