Banjo: A Story Without a Plot: Analysis of Major Characters
"Banjo: A Story Without a Plot" explores the lives and complexities of a diverse group of characters, primarily centered around Lincoln Agrippa Daily, known as Banjo. A black vagabond who has fled to Marseilles, Banjo embodies a mix of charm and despair, characterized by his carefree, improvident lifestyle, and deep philosophical reflections on race and identity. His relationships with other characters, such as Ray, a would-be writer grappling with his heritage, and Latnah, a nurturing figure who brings beauty and care to their harsh lives, underscore themes of camaraderie and survival.
The story also features Bugsy, a rugged and cynical youth, and Taloufa, a supporter of the back-to-Africa movement, highlighting the varying responses to cultural dislocation among black individuals. Other characters like Buchanan Malt, a lively musician, and Goosey, who grapples with notions of race and identity, further enrich the narrative landscape. Each character offers a unique perspective on life in the Ditch, the Marseilles black slums, weaving together a tapestry of experiences that reflect broader themes of racial pride, struggle, and the search for belonging in a complex world.
Banjo: A Story Without a Plot: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Claude McKay
First published: 1929
Genre: Novel
Locale: Marseilles, France
Plot: Social realism
Time: The early 1920's
Lincoln Agrippa Daily (Banjo), a black vagabond from the South who has skipped the ship that took him to Marseilles. He is a wastrel, a womanizer, a dreamer, and a loafer whose improvidence leads him to depend for his survival on instinctive actions and chance encounters. He is essentially trusting and basically generous. He is philosophical when he is tricked out of his banjo, which he values above all. He is seldom sober, though wine affords him decreasing pleasure. His charismatic personality allows him to become the leader of the small band that he organizes from the polyglot beach boys of the port. He deprecates black people who attempt to “pass” as white; he stresses racial pride, being influenced by Ray, with whom he decides to continue his vagabondage in Europe rather than return to the West Indies as a crewman on a tramp steamer. His pervasive melancholy is muted by Latnah, who cares for him after a hospitalization; in fact, she is the instrument of his metamorphosis. He is the cohesive element of his group.
Ray, a would-be writer and an educated West Indian beach boy. A drifter who has absconded from his family responsi-bilities to follow his own interests and whims, he regards happiness as the highest good and difference as the greatest charm of life. Moderate in his views (except for being rather strident in his antiwhite sentiments), he is dependable insofar as his immediate colleagues are concerned. He rediscovers his African roots and is proud of belonging to a race that has been “weighed and tested.” Finding life in the Ditch (the Marseilles black slums) palling, he opts for an itinerant working life.
Latnah, an Earth Mother type of lover, a prostitute who offers succor to Banjo and his colleagues. She was born in Aden of a Sudanese or Abyssinian mother and an unknown father; she is “not young and far from old” and has enviable physical attributes, though she is small. Her complexion is olive-toned, she runs like a gazelle, and she is as graceful as a serpent. She is caring, energetic, and sensual, and when she swims nude in the ocean, her beauty excites her companions, for she is lovely, limber, and sinewy. She regards herself as superior to the other female denizens of the Ditch, and her difference from them is obvious. Her compassion for her companions is generous. Ray and Banjo find it difficult to leave her for their new life as migrant workers.
Bugsy, a small, wiry, aggressive boy who is dull black in complexion. He was given his nickname because his companions thought him to be “bughouse,” or mentally incompetent. He is delighted with the name. He is sardonic, he dislikes French food (especially wine and horsemeat), and he is the most sober of the group. Ray describes him as “the toughest black boy I ever knew,” but Banjo criticizes him for being “the meanest monkey-chaser I evah seen” (in other words, vehemently antiwhite).
Taloufa, a Nigerian who has been in Wales and the United States and is a supporter of Marcus Garvey's back-to-Africa movement. He was educated out of his native ways by Christian missionaries and is opposed to “coon stuff.” He represents the blacks who have been cut off from African village life but not made part of Western urban life. Like the others, he is broke but not broken.
Buchanan Malt (Malty) Avis, the best drummer on the waterfront. He is an ebullient, indefatigable West Indian who led the band of beach boys before Banjo arrived. He received his name from the trade names on boxes of goods found in the kitchen where his mother worked. He started life as a “boy” on Caribbean fishing boats; he then sailed as a “boy” to New Orleans and became a full-time seaman. He never returned home. Skilled on the guitar, ukelele, and mandolin, and possessed of a “shining, black, big-boned, plump, jolly face,” he is a close friend of Ray and Latnah and accompanies them on their grape-picking excursion. Like Claude McKay, he is a versatile, irrepressible companion of both men and women.
Goosey, a “high yellow” black man from South Carolina who has lived in New Jersey and obtained a high school diploma. An aggressive person, he has had contretemps with his ship's officers and has been paid off in Marseilles with his friend Talpufa, the guitar player. Goosey, a flute player, is thoughtful and a pseudophilosopher on race relations. Ray thinks him a bonehead given to sophomoric musings. Goosey is naïve and is tricked out of his money almost immediately after his landing. A child of the Cotton Belt, he is no cosmopolite. He prefers the piano, harp, and violin to the banjo, which he sees as a symbol of bondage. He adheres to the uplift philosophy of the Harlem Renaissance intellectuals. He is mainly a foil to the sophistication of the longtime black beach boys of the Ditch.
Ginger, a long-term Ditch inhabitant, a former seaman and former convict. He is chestnut colored and has drab, brown, curly hair. He lost his seaman's papers and stole someone else's. He has become proficient in French. He always advises taking the line of least resistance, and he has ponderous opinions on all topics. When the others consider leaving the Ditch, Ginger prefers to stay and take his chances. He has succumbed to the familiar and is not cut out for the vagabond life.