Yoruba Girl Dancing

The novel is about Remi Foster, a Yoruba girl who is a protagonist's character from Bedford's Yoruba Girl Dancing, the story, at the age of six, she journeys from Nigeria as her home to receive education in England. The Novel also explains who Remi is, the place where she came from as well as her background cultural practices. This displays her as a Yoruba girl dancing in the midst of confusion as to where she belongs, and she is also struggling with her identity, whether she is African or British. The Novel also explains a complicated history of the Nigeria people as they interact with the foreigners and without forgetting the many issues, those immigrants brings about. The atmosphere surrounding Remi shows the nation's struggle with race, social class system and also colonization. Remi also had the development of her ethnicity that proceeds in the several stages as discussed below.

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At the age of six, Remi Foster was living with her grandparents and their Foster children in Nigeria. When her parents came back from the wedding reception and brought her the news that she was going to a boarding school in England, and she would go along with an Englishwoman, who married from the foster family on her trip to Liverpool. This act portrays her as a courageous girl at her young age since she agreed to go to a place she didn't know with her Englishwoman leaving aside the people she knew and loved. Some measures that the big mama took like cutting her hair short and also purchasing an oversize raincoat and matching hat for her to wear with an intention of covering Remi's skin color from praying eyes. Remi at her young age understood and did not disagree though it is not clear whether she knew the reason for that or its implications.

When Remi and the big mama set to sail for England on a cargo liner. On the Fist D awn Remi leaves his cabin and explores the ship and when she is discovered by Miss Smith, who drags her back to big mama, offering to teach her during the voyage. Remi curiosity makes her to feign sickness to escape Miss Smith. Afterward, she sneaks out of her cabin and stumble into crew quarters where she meets Mr. Lowther, Learning about the ship and listening to teams stories. This clearly shows Remi as an outstanding girl at her young age who cannot be restricted to do her affairs by anybody easily this trait helps her later when she joined boarding school.

On arrival in England, Remi meets Aunty Madge, Big Mama's Sister and Uncle Reg. Remi thinks she will be staying with Aunty Betty and Uncle Theo, though they are not comfortable to house her because of her skin color. Shortly afterwards, she is moved to a boarding school. At school, she is ignored because of her skin color to an extent that even one of the girls, Anita argued will ``rub off on anyone who brushes against her. She didn't hate them or avoided them either because of their insult and abuses. Her perseverance nature enabled her to gain the trust of other classmates, stereotypical tales of Africa and pretending that her father is a chieftain.

Remi continued with her studies as well as participating in other school activities lick choir, For instance when Remi was auditioned to the school choir she emerged to be an awful singer. This made her teacher say` `I assumed you would have a beautiful voice like African-American, Paul Robinson, like all your people. As the Novel comes to an end, Remi compares her life to that of Shakespeare's Othello. In The Tragedy of Othello, Desdemonas. Sometimes later when Remi was talking to her friend Phoebe, she notes of her teacher: ``I`m sure he thinks Im using some voodoo to woo the language to me in the same way Brabantio accused Othello of using spells on Desdemona. She also realized she had spent her life trying to become an Englishwoman, just as Othello attempted to become a Venetian, before committing suicide. She realized that she had lost sight of who she was. At this very instant, she is aware she will never be fully part of the English Society. She knew even if she had friends in the course of her studies she realized that some people will still question her upbringing and race. This shows Remi as a girl who understand other people as well as herself and adapt to the changes accordingly accepting her place in the civilized society. In other words, education produces a sense of growing up elsewhere, whether one is sent away to school or alienated at "home."

Her socio-economical class also influences Remi's development of her ethnicity. At the beginning of the novel, Remi is introduced living with her wealthy grandparents in Lagos. Six years old Remi notices that people who do not have the servant and the women of the house do the housework herself, Remi assumes they are poor. Wealth isolates Remi from those around her. This is evident when Remi takes a trip to the marketplace with one of the servants who work in her grandparent's house. Remi considers the maids and house workers as friends to her thus isolating other people. Also, the lavishness and the attention in the wedding of one other of the members he receives indicate how her family is wealthy and the high profile the wealth has accorded them.