A Sometimes Vagrant, a Sometimes Philosopher: Character Connections in 'Banjo' Genesis Taber College

A Sometimes Vagrant, a Sometimes PhilosopherExamining the Intersection of Diametrically Opposing Lifestyles in Claude McKay’s BanjoThough subtitled “A Story without a Plot”, Claude McKay’s Banjo (1929) paints an acute portrait of black diaspora as the novel meanders the breakwater of Marseilles, France following the exploits of its inhabitants, a motley, multi-ethnic cast of drifters, vagabonds, and ex-sailors who ascribe to a lifestyle that, fundamentally, revolves around a type of lighthearted hedonism balanced with passive acceptance and active exploration of what will come and what might be. In the midst of this prevailing attitude, each character remains tinctured by their own sensibilities and unique orientation towards life that at times seem diametric with one another yet often converge in interesting ways.

One such example is found in the personalities of easing-going “chestnut-skinned” (5) Ginger and bookish, American writer Ray. Both admire and assimilate, to a degree, the orientation of the other with the former assuming a persona of a ‘faux’ philosopher, and the latter increasingly adopting the position as ‘faux’ vagrant. This reciprocal appreciation is highlighted in the characters’ actions as well as their...