The Child of Queen Victoria by William Plomer
"The Child of Queen Victoria" by William Plomer is a narrative set in Africa, focusing on a young Englishman named Frant who arrives to work at a trading post run by Colonel MacGavin. The story explores the complexities of race and social dynamics, revealing how Frant, despite being a white man, is treated as a social inferior by the MacGavins. While navigating his feelings of attraction towards an African woman named Seraphina, Frant grapples with the societal constraints and prejudices of his time. His relationships with the MacGavins and the local African community highlight the tensions between different cultural values and personal desires. The arrival of heavy rains leads to a tragic revelation about Seraphina's fate, forcing Frant to confront his emotions and the harsh realities of his environment. This poignant tale examines themes of longing, identity, and the impact of colonial attitudes on personal relationships, offering a critical reflection on the intersections of race and class in a colonial setting.
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The Child of Queen Victoria by William Plomer
First published: 1933
Type of plot: Social realism
Time of work: The early twentieth century
Locale: Lembuland, Africa
Principal Characters:
Frant , the protagonist, a young English trader working in AfricaColonel MacGavin , his sponsor in Africa, a Scottish traderMrs. MacGavin Seraphina , a Lembu womanUmlilwana , Seraphina's fiancéAn elderly prophet
The Story
A young Englishman named Frant arrives in Africa to work as a volunteer in a trading post owned by Scottish-born Colonel MacGavin, who drives him to his store. Each man strains to maintain a hearty persona while imagining that the other resents him for representing values of another generation.
Frant stays in a room in the MacGavin's tiny house while serving in the trading post. The MacGavins treat him as a social inferior; however, as a white man, Frant is considered to be superior to his African customers, with whom he becomes friendly. In common with local Africans, Frant dislikes the MacGavins, who in turn dislike almost everybody. Frant's relatively jovial attitude increases sales, a fact for which the MacGavins are grudgingly grateful.
One day an attractive, young African woman named Seraphina enters the store and speaks with Frant. After she leaves, he fantasizes about sleeping with her and perhaps even marrying her. Because white people do not do such things with Africans, Frant worries about his desires and about the possible consequences of such a liaison. When MacGavin accuses him of being attracted to an African, Frant spews forth a diatribe against blacks so vitriolic that it frightens even himself.
After a long absence Seraphina returns with a huge snakeskin that she gives to Frant, explaining that she killed the snake herself. After Frant thanks her, he and Seraphina admit to liking each another, then Seraphina leaves. Frant hangs the snakeskin in his bedroom.
As Christmas approaches, the MacGavins invite Frant to accompany them as they visit other British residents in the region. Frant shocks them, however, by proposing to remain home alone. On Christmas Day he wanders about aimlessly before deciding to walk to Seraphina's village. Along his way he meets a young man named Umlilwana, who claims to be Seraphina's brother. Umlilwana tells him that he knows he and Seraphina like each other, adding in a friendly tone that such an attraction is not good because the races do not belong together. Frant is initially suspicious of Umlilwana's motives, but the young man's amiable manner persuades Frant to believe him when he says that Seraphina is away for two weeks visiting relatives.
After the holidays, heavy rains arrive and continue for weeks. In the middle of January Frant defies an impending storm by hiking to Seraphina's village. As he approaches her valley, he meets an elderly man who trades at MacGavin's store and who calls him "Child"—a diminution of "Child of Queen Victoria." Distraught, the man says that the storm has flooded the valley, drowning all its inhabitants. When Frant asks about Seraphina, who he believes to have been away visiting relatives, the man says that she never left the village and that Umlilwana was actually her fiancé. Frant considers running and plunging into the heavy waters to drown himself in the same torrent of water that swallowed Seraphina. Instead, he utters a single sob and heads home.