Portrayed entirely in the gloomy hues of grey, black and brown, Austin Clarke's "Canadian Experience" is a poignant tale of a man vacillating between his survival needs and the sense of 'otherness' that torments him in the city of his dreams. He is disillusioned that nothing really has changed. As the 'black' man in the white country, he stands aloof in the crowd battling the self imposed exile, as lethargy and a sense of defeat creep into his sordid life. Low self esteem and rootlessness hang over him like a canopy. The elevator moving up and down represents the tug-of-war that is raging within himself; the pain of existence and the emancipation from the bondage of life. His cynical laughter that has been a characteristic mark of his character accompanies him till his last step towards evasion in the process of bringing down the burden of his identity crisis.
Rudrani Mukherjee
PG I
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