Tanti at a Oval

‘The purpose of a story teller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon’ (Brandon Sanderson). Paul Keens Douglas has certainly given his audience many questions to think upon during his storytelling. Paul Keens Douglas is an author and storyteller from the Caribbean. In September of 1942 in San Juan Trinidad, Paul Keen Douglas was born. However, he spent his early childhood in Grenada. At the University of the West Indies Mona in Jamaica, he obtained an Honours Degree in Sociology and Diplomas in Radio and Television Production and Broadcasting. In the year 1974, he began writing and performing his own works through the use of his characters ‘Tanti Merle, Tim Tim and Tall Boy among others. He displays the Caribbean culture by using his personal experiences to describe life in the West Indies. This paper will focus on the audio ‘Tanti Merle at the Oval’, which give a story of the experience the author had when he took his aunt who was originally from St. Vincent, to the Oval to watch a Cricket Match between the Combine Islands and Trinidad. However, the issues of this piece will be focused on the aspects of ‘How cricket have been shaped by the Caribbean, the patriotism of Caribbean people and the various ways we as Caribbean people express ourselves’.

The game of cricket has been around for many years. However, the way that the game is played, the appearance of the players and the excitement that exist during the game have certainly changed from the 19th century now. It was gathered from the audio that there was noise and excitement in the oval for the cricket match and that members of the small islands were jumping and cheering in support of their team. However, in the early 90s cricket was known as a gentleman’s game, there was no cheering or excitement herd during the cricket match, uniforms were worn without colour and music was not heard. Cricket was used as a means to colonized the West Indians...