How has the author vividly conveyed their feelings about identity?
John Agard writes about racial divisions as he reflects on the external perception and misconceptions of his mixed race. He uses imagery to visualise the true meaning of ‘half-caste’ and reflects on the negative connotation the label has on his identity.
Agard uses visual imagery to show the relationship between contrasting things, as a way to uncover the literal meaning of ‘half-caste’. In the second stanza, he illustrates Picasso “[mixing] red an green” and asks if that “is a half-caste canvas”. He questions the reader if mixing two colours on a canvas takes away from the value of the canvas as a whole. He also draws attention to Tchaikovsky mixing “a black key wid a white key”, and again asks if that makes it a “half-caste symphony”. Considering the derogatory nature of the label ‘half-caste’, Agard questions whether the mix of the two keys takes away from the beauty of Tchaikovsky’s composition or somehow makes it inferior– which it does not in reality. The indirect reference to the beauty of contrast translates to Agard’s feelings about his mixed racial background. While he is sure of himself, as a human being with a strong identity, British society at the time did not see the same. The significance of the term “half-caste” is highlighted in the second and third stanza, alluding to the negative and inferior light mixed-race people were seen in.
The most direct challenge to the derogatory term is seen in the fourth stanza, where Agard reflects on his worth as a human being. He suggests that at night, he as a “half-caste human being [casts] half-a-shadow”. This confirms the societal perception of mixed-race people, that they are incomplete or that they have two separate halves of an identity that have no intersection. This is further supported by the last stanza of the poem, reading “an I will tell yu de other half of my story”. Agard implies that he only exists as one side of his background at a time, that his story isn’t cohesive but rather split apart by his two different backgrounds. This is, however, not his perception but that of British society.
The poem is a challenge to society almost, as Agard questions what the term “half-caste” means and whether it even makes sense. By comparing aspects of Tchaikovsky’s compositions, and Picasso’s art, he draws attention to the oxymoronic nature of being labelled “half-caste”. He essentially asks, how does having two backgrounds result in an identity that is less than a whole? John Agard stands his ground as he deflects the misconceptions about his racial background and affirms his identity, by combatting the “ half-caste” label and its historical significance in British society.
