In the Castle of My Skin

Barbados is a Caribbean island nation that’s also known as Little England. One of the novel’s narrators, a young boy named G., lives in Creighton’s Village, Barbados. The chapter opens on his ninth birthday, and G. is sad because rain is flooding the village. His mother talks to a neighbor through a window, and the adults comment on how rain on a birthday is auspicious: “and they flattered me with the consolation that my birthday had brought showers of blessing” (9). Despite this, the fact that his birthday falls during flood season isn’t a blessing to G.—it’s an annual letdown that affects the entire village. “It was my ninth celebration of the gift of life, my ninth celebration of the consistent lack of an occasion for celebration” (9). Creighton’s Village is densely populated, with both houses and businesses sharing tight quarters. The streets are of limestone or sand, and streetlamps mark where people congregate. The roads have English names, and the villagers on these streets often take so much pride in their street that they squabble with people from other streets. There’s also a public bath for men and women. Though life might be quiet or noisy on any given day, the floods change everything.