Blossom, the enigma of a soul

Dionne Brand's Blossom tells the story of the vigorous Trinidadian woman who gradually figures out a transcendental life for herself freeing herself from the pangs of despair and clutches of a failing life in the Stranger Land. The very beginning of the story initiates the presence of a feminine aura and the lurking of something supernatural in the story, and her place being called the "obeah house" implants the magical world of the black people to be the essential identity of the mysticism.

An invincible spirit of life within Blossom is what guides her actions in the unknown land far away from her home,as she tries to keep up with the ever failing attempt of creating a secure and meaningful life in Toronto. Her sudden transformation at thirty six years of age begins one morning when she suddenly feels very tired and old and discovers the uselessness of her marriage to Victor and of her life in hardships and hardwork. Her realization of the void breaks her to the core. In the violent behaviour with screams that announce heartrending protests, and the uncontrollable tears that follow, a search for herself begins ; and she grows older in the mind. As a way to liberation,she connects deeply with her native roots and her 'she' self as she feels the dominating presence of Oya, the goddess of winds, storms and waterfalls she had known since old days, in her life. She realizes the plight of the Black race that she feels Oya shows to her. Her learning to rise above grief, makes her strengthen a contact with the larger cause of living for humanity as the meaning of existence. She is seen to engage in wild dance and enraptured celebration every night for she feels possessed and climbs "into Oya lovely womb of strength and fearlessness." Her dressing up in colours against suffering, speaking in old African tongues trace a liberation of the self from all worldly ties; essentially guided by a mother woman power who serves to be the strength of her voice. She finds strength to inculcate the force of life within her. Her warrior like disposition reminds one of the assertive ancient warrior race of women, the Amazons. Her revelry echoes a spirit that unites since the old Grecian times, the sacred and the feminine. She becomes the woman larger than life with the "power to fight, power to feel pain and the power to heal." Her wildness, her dreams, her mourning, her crying for the plight of her native souls and her 'fame as a obeah woman' makes her the mystical voice of ancient spirits in search of a greater life. Her presence becomes a mark of profundity and a celebration of the woman spirit making a mark in the heart of the Canadian world,erasing her void and marginalization.

Manjima Biswas 
PGI