Assertion of Indigenous Culture: A Postcolonial Study of Geraldine Brooks’ Caleb’s Crossing

Abstract

The writers in the postcolonial era not only focus on the European colonization but also on the ethnic identities, racial divisions and linguistics. Geraldine Brooks is conscious of the tribulations of the insecurity and insularity faced by minority communities. In the novel Caleb’s Crossing, culture conscious is foremost and Geraldine has brought microcosm community exuberantly to life with immense vitality and vivacity. This paper clearly exemplifies the natives who have lost their tradition, day long sites, rituals, language, religion and lands since the arrival of the Whites. Brooks projects Caleb, the native becomes the victim who is denied the rights to survive in his community. The White settlers come to the island and owned the lands of Wampanoag as their own. Once they settled, they commence to corrupt the natives, exploiting their entire community. The Whites could few souls who are abandoned, hated and thrown out from their community. The identity of few natives is unanswerable. Being a journalist and writer, Geraldine has given voice to the minority. Readers can perceive how Geraldine dismantles the looping traps made by the colonisers.