THE FINAL PASSAGE

CARYL PHILLIPS

Karolína Šimková
Tereza Mrvová
 NOTABLE WORKS
CARYL PHILLIPS The Final Passage (1985)
A State of Independence (1986)
BIO
The Europeans Tribe (1987)
ー Born 1958, St Kitts → Leeds, UK
Higher Ground (1989)
ー Novelist, playwright and essayist
Cambridge (1991)
ー Queen's College, Oxford University
Crossing the River (1993)
ー London – St Kitts – New York City
ー Professor of English at Yale University Nature of Blood (1997)
(since 2005) The Atlantic Sound (2000)
ー Number of awards
Dancing in the Dark (2005)
ー 1985: Malcolm X Prize for Literature for The Final Passage
ー 1993: The Booker Prize shortlist for Crossing the River In the Falling Snow (2009)
ー 2004: Caribbean American Heritage Award for Outstanding
A View of the Empire at Sunset (2018)
Contribution to Literature
THE FINAL PASSAGE
ー 1985
ー DEBUT NOVEL, HISTORICAL NOVEL
- 1958, during the “Windrush” Era
ー STRUCTURE
- NON-LINEAR
- 5 PARTS:
■ THE END, HOME, ENGLAND, THE
PASSAGE, WINTER
EXPECTATIONS VS REALITY
THE ISLAND LONDON

- MONOTONE, SUFFOCATING EXCITING, IDEALIZED (AT FIRST) –

- COMMUNITY-BASED, OPEN-DOOR POLICY OSTRACIZATION, ALL DOORS ARE CLOSED –

Gender Roles
&
Identity
CHARACTERS
MICHAEL LEILA LEILA’S MOTHER

• Self-centered • Passive, resigned • Unmotherly, cold

• Frustrated with his
situation
• Parasitic existence
• Desperate for her mother’s
approval / attention
• Cares about what people
think
• Unable to communicate
with Leila
• Emotional neglect

MILLIE + BRADETH BEVERLY

- Mirror M+L - Mirrors Leila

- More functional, - Takes action
optimistic, active
LEILA’S FINAL PASSAGE

IS THE ENDING HOPEFUL?

WHAT IS LEILA’S FINAL PASSAGE?

 SOURCES

ー Fediakova, Anastasiia. “Disrupted Parenthood in Caryl Phillips’s The Final Passage.” Prague Journal of
English Studies 10, no.1 (2021): 43–58. https://doi.org/10.2478/pjes-2021-0003.
ー Güzen, Aybüke. “The Other Mothers in Caryl Phillips’s The Final Passage and The Lost Child.” M.A. thesis,
Middle East Technical University, 2022.
ー Gates Henry Louis and Valerie Smith. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature: Volume 2
Third ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014.
ー Phillips, Caryl. “Caryl Phillips, Author and Playwright | Official Web Site | Biography.”
Carylphillips.com. Accessed December 13, 2023. https://www.carylphillips.com.
ー Phillips, Caryl. The Final Passage. London: Picador, 1995.