BY:

SAMUEL
SELVON

A BRIGHTER SUN:
CHAPTER SUMMARY
AND READER
RESPONSE
Table Of Contents

Chapter 1 Summary 1
Chapter 2 Summary 2
Chapter 3 Summary 3
Chapter 4 Summary 4
Chapter 5 Summary 5
Chapter 6 Summary 6
Chapter 7 Summary 7
Chapter 8 Summary 8
Chapter 9 Summary 9
Chapter 10 Summary 10
Chapter 11 Summary 11
Chapter 12 Summary 12
Reader's Response. 13
Chapter 1 Summary

In chapter one, a 16 year old negro boy,

named Tiger, is arranged an affair to marry
Urmilla, an Indian. Before his wedding, Tiger
felt unprepared as he knew little about
weddings. At first, after the wedding, they
had little communication with each other
until the mood was lifted when tiger tried to
smoke, to look like a man Infront of Urmilla
but coughed because he had never smoked
before. Tiger then rented land, became a
farmer and thought about what being a man
was. He thinks that being a man meant that
he had to: drink, smoke, curse, abuse his wife,
have authorithy over Urmilla, work, and have
sexual intercourse at night. He thought this
because that is all he has seen his father do at
home.
Chapter 2 Summary

We are given a briefing on the history of

the economy and the social growth
resulting from the war. We are also
introduced to Tiger and Urmilla's
neighbours, Joe and Rita Martin and their
son Henry, and are given some information
about their life. Later on, we see that
Urmilla tells Rita that she is pregnant which
Rita responds by telling her she should eat
more. When Tiger was told the news he said
that he needed to think about it but was
happy, and later that night he begins to
wonder about his crops, their income and
about the baby. The next day, they decided
to sell milk for more money.
Chapter 3 Summary

Rita gave Urmilla her bed to have the

baby. Urmilla gave birth to a baby girl, but
Tiger felt as if there was something he
could have done to prevent having a girl.
He then took a walk I began to wonder if
all the worrying and the work he is doing
is signs of being a man. Later on Urmilla
and Tiger's parents visited, and Tiger
brought Rita and Joe to meet them but
there was uncomfortable tension between
them. When Rita and Joe left, their
parents began to berate them, call them
names, and tell Tiger and Urmilla that they
should make more Indian friends and
should stay at a distance from creoles.
Chapter 4 Summary
The majority of Chinese in Trinidad are shopkeepers or
launderers. By Trinidadian custom's, All Americans, for
instance, are known as "Joes", east Indians are hailed as
"Ram" or "Singh" or some other common name, in the
same way, all Chinese are "Chins", until an association is
formed and introductions made. "Old man," a shopkeeper
and who has passed and "Tall boy," his assistant that took
over, were both Chinese men who made a name for
themselves. "Tall boy" had a family, Mary, his pregnant
wife, and his four children, Ling, Pewee and Achong. His
children disliked going to school because Henry, Rita's
son, along with other classes began to call them racial
slurs and make fun of them by saying, "Chinee, Chinee,
never die, Flat nose and chinky eye!" Which resulted in
retaliation from Ling, making fun of creoles and Indians.
Then everyone began to yell insults at eachother. "Tall
boy" wanted to take over Otto's, another Chinese
shopkeeper, shop, so when Otto's shop got broken into,
"Tall boy" took the opportunity to buy it from him, and
made it into rooms to rent. Joe helped him get a person to
rent out a room, and when he heard about how Ria
delivered Urmilla's baby, "Tall boy" wondered if she could
do the same for his wife and deliver their baby.
Chapter 5 Summary
We are introduced to Sookdeo, an old Indian
labourer and are told of his life living in
Trinidad and all about his family. Sookdeo was
not a good farmer, and he was a con artist but
he was able to read. Everyday he would read
the Trinidad Guardian to "Tall boy", who
wanted to know what was happening in China,
in exchange for his drinks. Sookdeo was a
vendor, farmer and he did odd jobs. He sold a
'Half-dead donkey for fifty dollars, even though
it was half blind, and also told Rookmin, his
wife, that he only got twenty dollars. Tiger was
able to get Sookdeo to read the newspapers to
him using respect and rum. While Tiger and
Sookdeo were on Tiger's farm, we are
introduced to Boysie, a strong, hardworking,
Indian. Who stays, has a drink, and talks with
them. Tiger mentions that he regrets being
married and having a child, but he is happy with
the company
Chapter 6 Summary
Tiger and Boysie went to Port of Spain to do
activities and explore. They used a taxi to go from
the Eastern Main Road to the railway station.
Tiger and Boysie then had and drink and decided
to take a walk and talk about things related to the
war. They then went to the Guardian office, on St.
Vincent Street. The also saw the Red House and
the central police station, where Boysie stated
that the police were unfair, and they also visited
Woodford park. Boysie told Tiger to go into the
store by himself, where he was told to wait, even
though he came before the white lady, and when
he left the cashier made fun of his race and his
attitude towards them. When Tiger told Boysie
what happened in the store Boysie told him it was
because of his race and because white people are
viewed as "God" in this country. After they talked,
Boysie took tiger to eat and he told him to take
the train home. Tiger took the tram the later
though about how change affected his life.
Chapter 7 Summary
We are shown a young Indian riding his bicycle to
Tall boy's shop, he buys a drink and asks to put up
a notice on the wall. Sookdeo entered the shop,
asked for rum but when he realised that Tall man
was paying him no mind, but instead trying to
read the notice, he jumped up, went closer to the
notice to read it, then he excitedly ran to tell
everyone. Tiger along with everyone else went to
see the news for themselves. Since Tiger learned
to read, he read the information to the villagers,
which stated that the Americans are going to
build a new road, so the farmers will have to quit
and move out by two weeks but they will get
compensation. Since most people did not
understand, they decided to send Tiger to San
Juan to find out more information. He found out
that American surveyors will come to mark off the
course that the road would take. Then we meet
Mr. Bunsen, an American who came to explain the
plans and compensation.
Chapter 8 Summary

From Urmilla point of view, we learn that

she sometimes feels lonely when Tiger is
away. Tiger does not respect Urmilla and
treats her as if she is stupid. She never
liked to talk about herself or what she
thought about and he does not tell her
where he gets the money. Tiger comes
home and tells Urmilla about the plans
to move. Urmilla tells Tiger that she's
pregnant and Tiger is upset that she did
not tell him he then began to threaten
Urmilla and their unborn baby. He goes
to Rita to ask if Urmilla is cheating on
him. Rita, filled with anger, threw him
out of her house.
Chapter 9 Summary

Tiger understood that he was acting irrationally

and he felt bad for accusing Urmilla. He comforts
himself by saying that it is what men do. The
Americans went to tear down Sookdeo's land.
Tiger went to Sookdeo to inform him. The money
that was planted under the mango tree, Tiger ran
to get. Sookdeo becomes sick and ends up dying.
Tiger is gets a promotion and helps teach Urmilla
to read. Tiger tells his wife that he invited the
American's to thier house to get another
promotion. He also tells her that the baby and
her have to look presentable for his them.
Urmilla hopes that she made everything in the
house right for them, since she is afraid of Tiger.
Tiger says to Urmilla that she is looking like a
whore and says that she should stop borrowing
Rita's clothes. Tiger then beats her up and kicked
her in her stomach.
Chapter 10 Summary

Tiger was woken up by a groaning Urmilla,

because he was worried, Tiger ask Urmilla
if she wanted a doctor. Tiger went out to
get a doctor for his wife, not caring about
the hour. First, he went to an Indian
doctor, then a black doctor and lastly a
white doctor that came to Urmilla right
away. Tiger says to Urmilla that Rita
should deliver the baby after she sees a
midwife. While the baby was being born,
Tiger told Joe the things on his mind, and
what he thinks it like to be a man. Rita
came and told Tiger the news that he got
a baby boy but he baby had died at birth.
Tiger blamed himself for the death of his
child. Later, the road built was called
"The Churchill-Roosevelt Highway.
Chapter 11 Summary

The war continued to have consequences

on the country. Tiger distracted himself
with building the new house on the same
site on his hut. He sent Urmilla and
Chandra to stay at their parent's, for the
holidays. Tiger isolated himself and chose
to work alone and do the hard work by
himself. He stopped talking to Joe and
Rita because he was ashamed and felt
guilty. They began to talk again, when he
left bottles of milk by their door. Before
Urmilla came back, he finished the house
with the help of his neighbours. Tiger and
Urmilla decided to continue living with no
specific plan for the future.
 Chapter 12 Summary

We are shown that time has passed.

The war was over and peace was
declared. The villagers all partied and
listened to steel bands which Joe,
played in. Boysie left Trinidad to go to
America, to earn a lot of money. Joe
works with railways in Port of Spain.
Tiger is happy with his wife and child,
but wonders what difference was
made in his life.
Reader's Response
A Brighter Sun is a coming-of-age novel by
Caribbean writer Sam Selvon, first published
in 1952. This novel was very entertaining. The
characters each played a major role in
progressing, the novel and keeping the readers
interested. The experiences lived by Tiger, the
Main Character, along with Urmilla, his wife,
showed us how easily your life can change.
This is the story of Tiger and his child bride,
Urmilla, and their struggles to earn a living and
find the real purpose in their lives among the
struggling East Indian, Negro, and Chinese
populace of wartime in Trinidad.

The settings used along with the writing, help

set the moods and tones of this novel. The
themes of this poem are struggle, change,
racial discrimination, and manhood. Some
different tropes used in this novel are abusive
parents, an alcoholic and coming of age story.
The style of writing is filled with Prose, slangs
and sayings from lower and middle class
citizens in Trinidad, which helps portrait a
close to home feeling.
 A
BRIGHTER
SUN

Shinyah Felix- Form 3B