Half caste essay

Half-Caste is a poem about defending your identity against others who would ‘cast you
down’. Half-Caste is a term from colonial history and is considered an offensive term to
describe someone condition of being mixed race (his father was Caribbean and his
mother Portuguese),a derogatory term referring to people of mixed race.`

In ‘Half-Caste’, John Agard deals with the condition of being mixed as well as living as a
non-native in Britain. The writer expresses his dislike of prejudices he has suffered
because of his mixed-race or, in his words, ‘Half Caste’. It is an offensive and
dehumanizing word used to describe people of mixed race. The title directly reflects the
focus of the poem.

In Portuguese, the word ‘casta’ means lineage or line of inheritance, while ‘casto’ means
pure or unmixed. As Agard’s mother is Portuguese, it may be that this meaning of purity
also forms part of his perception of the word. By adding the prefix ‘half’ to ‘caste’ the
term becomes one of abuse, suggesting that a mixed-race person is only half-formed,
half made and half pure. The word ‘half’ in the title pictures the speaker’s
incompleteness, and ‘caste’ is derived from the Latin Castus which means purity, so the
title details that the speaker is distinguished by his purity or title pictures his social
standing in the society.
The poem’s content starts by sarcastically ‘apologising’ for being half-caste – ‘Excuse
me’. This is a direct satire to the discriminative society – although the poem starts by
apologizing for being half-caste, Agard means exactly the opposite. On the surface, this
sounds like a polite and humble request, but this does not seem to fit with the
confrontational feel of the rest of the poem. Agard comments on the absurdity of this
dehumanization by offering the reader a scornful physical interpretation, whereby he
compares it to him ‘standing on one leg’ as though he is in some way half a human
being.

In the next section of the poem, 'Explain yuself,' he first demands an explanation from
racial society for the dehumanising term. 'Explain yuself’ This is the poem's key line,
which advances his challenging demands. He demands a genuine and reasonable
explanation from society for their condescending attitude through this imperative line.
It's a powerful expression that lets his suppressed emotion out. The phrase 'Explain
yourself' appears four times in the poem. It forms a refrain in this way.

In the next line, the speaker wonders if mixing red and green paints results in a
"half-caste canvas," or if classical musician Tchaikovsky playing both black and white
piano keys results in a "half-caste symphony." He uses an analogy to question how 'Half
– Caste' mixing can lead to racial segregation. Furthermore, he uses a well-known
natural phenomenon of English weather to demonstrate that mixing is a natural process
and that condemning people of mixed nationalities is foolish.
Agard makes use of metaphor, comparing ‘half-caste’ to art, weather and music, which
makes the poem a kind of parable. He also uses scathing humour – including the joke:
‘in dat case england weather nearly always half-caste’ – because humour can also help
to give a point more impact.
'I half-caste human being cast half-a-shadow' has a sinister vampire-like tone, and the
speaker points out that by using the word 'half' people are saying he is not human, but
inferring that there is something sub-human, even evil about him. Here the poet
ridiculously points to the impossibility of being a 'half-caste'.
He challenges his readers to change their thinking, and come up with a better word or he
expects reformed thoughts from society. He ends by saying: 'but yu must come back
tomorrow wid … de whole of yu mind' – here he is pointing out that it is us who have
been thinking with only half-a-brain when we use the word 'half-caste'.

In The Half-Caste, a young man is insulted by the term 'half-caste'. He objects to being
called half a human being and asserts that there is much more to him than we realize.
Repetition of the imperative ‘explain yuself’ tells the reader to give a logical explanation
for the phrase 'half caste' as he asserts his identity as a whole human being.
In later recordings, Agard does not sound as angry – he even makes a joke of it, and he
brings out the humour of phrases such as: ‘Excuse me standing on one leg’. Perhaps this
is because fewer people use the term half-caste nowadays. But it may also be that he
sees the funny side of it himself.

The poem is also notably written using a mixture of standard English and Caribbean
Creole, ‘Ah lookin at yu wid de keen half of mih eye’, but at another in standard English:
‘Consequently when I dream I dream half-a-dream’; and its form thus reflects the
multifaceted identity of the poet himself. This very powerfully gets across the fact that
Agard is of mixed heritage. Agard uses direct speech (e.g. ‘I’/ ‘yu’) and many commands
(such as ‘Explain yuself’) to point his thoughts directly at the reader, and to make the
poem challenging and confrontational.

The poem has four sections, each with a different message so that – even though it is
funny and angry – the poem gradually builds up its argument, step by step, that
‘half-caste’ is an unacceptable phrase and we ought not to use it.

After the first stanza, the language switches to phonetic Caribbean-English dialect,
embodying Agard’s mixed racial heritage and he demands an explanation for the use of
the term; an intelligent justification, that he knows the person he is speaking to will be
unable to provide.

The refrain of this direct address throughout gives the poem a very personal tone,
reiterating to the reader the extent to which the derogatory term offends Agard.
The imagery of Agard looking with half an eye to shaking hands with half a hand are
comical, although saddening upon reflection.
Half a person is a term used to describe someone who has only one eye, ear, and mind.
The speaker uses sarcasm to mock the term and those that address him with it in order
to show its absurdity.
Agard's poem tells his reader that his race is not his full story, and that he has another
half to his story. He will only tell this to someone if they see him as their equal,
disregarding all stereotypes.