Feb 18, 2023 09:57
1 yr ago
27 viewers *
English term
yellow
Non-PRO
English
Art/Literary
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Hello everyone,
This is from Naipaul's "In a Free State", the second tale, which takes place in the West Indies I think around the 1960's. The character comes upon a shop he frequented in his childhood. It is a "jokes-shop".
The word is simple, but I'm not sure how to give the meaning in context:
"The owner, the new owner, the man with the lease, look at us. A yellow little bald fellow with a soft little paunch, and everything in his window already look as if it is collecting dust..."
I can't make it out if the "yellow" here is referring to the guy being East Asian or something else. The context is just this, and there is no interaction between the narrator and the shopkeeper, so I suppose there is no reason to assume the man is in any way coward.
Thank you.
This is from Naipaul's "In a Free State", the second tale, which takes place in the West Indies I think around the 1960's. The character comes upon a shop he frequented in his childhood. It is a "jokes-shop".
The word is simple, but I'm not sure how to give the meaning in context:
"The owner, the new owner, the man with the lease, look at us. A yellow little bald fellow with a soft little paunch, and everything in his window already look as if it is collecting dust..."
I can't make it out if the "yellow" here is referring to the guy being East Asian or something else. The context is just this, and there is no interaction between the narrator and the shopkeeper, so I suppose there is no reason to assume the man is in any way coward.
Thank you.
Responses
| 3 +2 | yellow with age |
Tony M
|
| 4 +1 | having the colour traditionally attributed to Far East Asians |
Muhammad Atallah
|
References
| There are clues ... |
Daryo
|
Responses
+2
5 hrs
Selected
yellow with age
All the description here seems to be suggesting age... the shop, the man... so I don't think it refers to his ethnic background, so much as to his skin being yellowish in hue, which happens a lot with older people, who are not "in the first flush of youth" (= a healthy pink colour)
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: Distinct poossibility
16 hrs
|
|
Thanks, C!
|
|
| agree |
Barbara Carrara
1 day 17 hrs
|
|
Thanks, Barbara!
|
|
| agree |
Daryo
: yellow as in "jaundiced" / bad complexion
2 days 17 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you Tony"
+1
7 mins
Muhammad Atallah
Egypt
Egypt
Specializes in field
Egypt
Technical accuracy with fluency of style
Native in: Arabic (Variant: Egyptian) 
Works in: English to Arabic, Arabic to English, Arabic, and 1 more.
having the colour traditionally attributed to Far East Asians
I think "yellow" here refers to the man's skin color. The use of the word "little" to describe him further emphasizes his physical stature.
The word "yellow" is being used as a racial or ethnic descriptor, which could be considered offensive or derogatory.
The word "yellow" is being used as a racial or ethnic descriptor, which could be considered offensive or derogatory.
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Charlotte Fleming
28 mins
|
| agree |
philgoddard
1 hr
|
| neutral |
Tony M
: I remain unconvinced.
5 hrs
|
| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: One of two possible meanings
22 hrs
|
| disagree |
Daryo
: an Asian being called ‘You white bitch’ three sentences later?
2 days 23 hrs
|
Reference comments
2 days 23 hrs
Reference:
There are clues ...
And then I see the shop. Like a dirty box with a glass front. Now it is a jokes-shop, with little cards in the dusty window. Amuse your friends, frighten your friends. Card tricks, false false-teeth, solid glasses of Guinness, rubber spiders, itching powder, plastic dog-mess. It isn’t much, but you wouldn’t believe that once upon a time for a few months the place was mine.
‘This is the place,’ I tell Frank. ‘The mistake of my life. This is where all my money went. Two thousand pounds. It take me five years to save that. In five months it went there.’
Two thousand pounds. Pounds don’t sound like real money if you spend most of your life dealing in dollars and cents. But in ten years my father couldn’t make two thousand pounds. How a man could revive after that? You can say: I will do it again, I will work again and save again. You can say that, but you know that when your courage break, it break.
Frank put his arm around my shoulders to take me away from the shop window. The owner, the new owner, the man with the lease, look at us. A yellow little bald fellow with a soft little paunch, and everything in his window already look as if it is collecting dust. Frank stiffen a little, the old pride puffing him up, and he is acting for the bald fellow and anybody else who is watching us.
I say, ‘You white bitch.’
It is as though Frank love the obscene language. He get very tender and gentle, and because he is tender I start saying things I don’t really feel.
‘I am going to make a lot more money, Frank. I am going to make more money than you will ever make in your whole life, you white bitch:. I will buy the tallest building here. I will buy the whole street.’
V. S. Naipaul
In a Free State
Clearly "you white bitch" is the old owner of the shop ranting at the new owner - this "yellow little bald fellow with a soft little paunch"
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 23 hrs (2023-02-21 09:33:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
oops... the brother of the old owner ranting at the new owner
‘This is the place,’ I tell Frank. ‘The mistake of my life. This is where all my money went. Two thousand pounds. It take me five years to save that. In five months it went there.’
Two thousand pounds. Pounds don’t sound like real money if you spend most of your life dealing in dollars and cents. But in ten years my father couldn’t make two thousand pounds. How a man could revive after that? You can say: I will do it again, I will work again and save again. You can say that, but you know that when your courage break, it break.
Frank put his arm around my shoulders to take me away from the shop window. The owner, the new owner, the man with the lease, look at us. A yellow little bald fellow with a soft little paunch, and everything in his window already look as if it is collecting dust. Frank stiffen a little, the old pride puffing him up, and he is acting for the bald fellow and anybody else who is watching us.
I say, ‘You white bitch.’
It is as though Frank love the obscene language. He get very tender and gentle, and because he is tender I start saying things I don’t really feel.
‘I am going to make a lot more money, Frank. I am going to make more money than you will ever make in your whole life, you white bitch:. I will buy the tallest building here. I will buy the whole street.’
V. S. Naipaul
In a Free State
Clearly "you white bitch" is the old owner of the shop ranting at the new owner - this "yellow little bald fellow with a soft little paunch"
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 23 hrs (2023-02-21 09:33:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
oops... the brother of the old owner ranting at the new owner
Note from asker:
| Thank you. My impression had been that the "white bitch" was Frank:) |
Discussion
Your context might make it clearer whether it’s more likely to have another meaning.