‘Gros-Jean, Mi-Jean and Ti-Jean’
“Some of us treat opportunity like sand.
We fill our hands with it, and then let it slip through our fingers until it is gone.”
– Borrowed
LET NOT The above be said of you, please. You are fortunate enough to live at a time and to be in a place and situation where you can get an education. Do not take this lightly, even in the face of hardships. Make good use of your opportunity!
Mi-Jean, as I believe you are expecting, is the focus of our attention this week. Gros-Jean is gone, eaten despite his iron muscles, and Mi Jean steps readily into action. He sees himself as the ‘bookman’, the intellectual whose self-proclaimed brilliance would, in his estimation, overmatch and outmatch anybody.
We quickly learn that he is as conceited as his older brother had been, if not more so. In similar fashion, like his brother before him, he does not want to listen to his mother or to have her blessing. Can’t you see him bristling with the arrogance of ‘I know it all’? It does not take long for doubts to arise in our minds about his ability to succeed in a conflict with the devil, for we hear that he is so very focused on book learning that he has little practical sense. When he goes fishing, he forgets to carry bait. With his character being like this, it is unlikely that he could focus successfully on any task which takes him away from using or acquiring book knowledge long enough to beat his enemy. We can already see that he would not take kindly to anything which questions the level on which he believes he belongs by virtue of his studies.
Mi-Jean, the middle brother, enters the forest and he, too, meets the little creatures, the frog, the cricket and the firefly. Well, they can’t read, can’t hold intellectual/philosophical discussions, and so would have been of no account to him. What could he possibly learn from such lowly creatures? His mother’s advice concerning them couldn’t apply to him, so he does not just ignore them, he shows his disdain physically. Unfortunately for Mi-Jean, his learning makes him narrow-minded and unappreciative of the lessons he could learn from others, regardless of their status.
It is this pride in his knowledge which the devil uses against him before winning the contest and gobbling him up in the end. Mi-Jean accepts a job from the devil, who is in disguise of course, and appears as someone who needs help and someone who offers work. The bright man, Mi-Jean, does not question anything, does not rationally examine the situation into which he is entering for, with confidence in his ability, he does not expect that anyone can trick, or as we Caribbean people would say, ‘fool’ him. It was his intention to become a lawyer and so, wisely enough, his plan is to keep his silence, regardless of what is asked of him or said to him, for he cannot incriminate himself if he locks his lips. That strategy works for a time, to the point where he annoys his enemy. Unlike Mi-Jean, however, the devil has other plans of attack. Every time I think of Mi-Jean counting away in the cane fields, I wonder how he was able to keep his mouth closed. His face may have reflected his true feelings, may or may not have been distorted with anger, but he does not say anything that the devil can use to seize him.
What do you think of the scene with the goat that just keeps getting loose? Do you find it amusing, tragic, or both? I am struck by the fact that Mi-Jean can find no way, no method to prevent this happening repeatedly. Apparently, nothing in his book knowledge has prepared him for practical action. Up to this point, though, he is holding on to his end of the bargain. It is at this time that the devil pulls from his bag of tricks, one that could deliver the final blow. He attacks the man’s pride, his knowledge, his intellectual prowess, that which separates him from an animal, a mere goat. Mi-Jean cannot accept this demeaning conclusion. Can you see him responding with the words flying forcefully from his mouth. In Jamaica, we would say ‘Him touch him corn’, and all because the strategist, the devil, hit him where it hurts. MiJean sees himself only as a man of book knowledge, nothing less, nothing more, and when his pride is bruised, he cannot control his anger. He breaches the contract and forfeits his life.
The mother has now lost her two older sons. Her only champion is Ti-Jean and, naturally, she does not want to see him go. She has already expressed the fact that losing family is part of a woman’s life, but the knowledge will not diminish her pain. In another lesson, we will concentrate on the character of Ti-Jean.
Walk good, and God bless!