Agricultural Environment, Climate in touch with Multiculturalism in the Austine Clarke's 'The Polished Hoe'

This paper looks at how the sugar plantation environment affects the characters in Austin Clarke’s novel, The Polished Hoe. Set on the fictional island of Bimshire (which is like Barbados) in the 1950s, the story follows Mary-Mathilda, a woman who has spent her life working for and living under the thumb of a powerful plantation owner, Mr. Bellfeels. This paper's major idea is that, even after slavery ended, the plantation keeps controlling people's lives like a "machine" rather than just an area where plants are grown. The burning sun, the sharp sugar cane, and the strict rules that keep the wealthy powerful and the poor employed make up the "climate" of the plantation. The "hoe" symbol, which is a basic farming carry out, shows Mary Mathilda's trying to "polish" or hide the harsh realities of her existence. The physical layout of the plantation, the way the sugar cane fields symbolize both labor and secrets, and the social levels established by the plantation system are the three primary topics of the study. The study concludes by demonstrating how the setting of the sugar plantation serves as a kind of jail that maintains the past in the present. While being "free," the main characters are constantly reminded of how unfair their reality is by the earth itself.