The west indian emerges: George lamming’s in the castle of my skin

George Lamming’s In the Castle of My Skin, first published in 1953, is a seminal work in West Indian and Post-Colonial literature. It precedes and establishes the foundational themes that are central to the works of V.S. Naipaul, Wilson Harris, Derek Walcott, and a host of the most incisive West Indian writers. This article explores the West Indian’s muscular heave to emerge from the horror that is West Indian history. The West Indian, embodied in the protagonist named G, must overcome a sense of loss, a sense of fragmentation and rootlessness in order that he approach the world with wholeness and hope. This struggle continues in this new age of ours, and remains as relevant to us as West Indians as it was during and immediately after Colonialism. A critical exploration of this novel may be more urgent now than it was when it was first published.