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trope is renamed Prefers Going Barefoot. Dewicking old name


* DoesNotLikeShoes: Urmilla, but only because she's not used to wearing shoes to begin with, due to her Indian background.

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Per TRS Good People Have Good Sex is now a disambig page. ZCE.


* FunPersonified: Boysie.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex

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* %%* FunPersonified: Boysie.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex
Boysie.
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Ill Girl has been cut per TRS decision. Examples are moved to Delicate And Sickly when appropriate.


* IllGirl: Urmilla, during the last third of the book. She gets better. [[spoiler:Her unborn child doesn't]].
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Adding a trope example.

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* ArrangedMarriage: Tiger's marriage to Urmilla at age 16 is this to an extreme level--not only did he not know her before, he didn't even known about the wedding until his father told him about it.

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Correcting a trope example.


* CallingTheOldManOut: Near the end of the novel, Tiger does this to two doctors (one an Indian, one a Negro) who had earlier refused to come and see Urmilla in her moment of illness because of their assumptions born of elitism and FantasticRacism.


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* ThisIsUnforgivable: Near the end of the novel, Tiger calls out two doctors (one an Indian, one a Negro) who had earlier refused to come and see Urmilla in her moment of illness because of their assumptions born of racist elitism.
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No longer a trope.


* WouldHitAGirl: Joe Martin [[DomesticAbuse fights regularly]] with his common-law wife, Rita, and Tiger also recalls that Deen, another of his neighbors, once kicked his wife in front of everyone simply because she came into Tall Boy's shop while he was having a drink and asked him for money. Tiger himself, early in the novel, determines that he'll "bully the life out of" Urmilla if she doesn't do what he tells her. [[spoiler:He later does beat Urmilla while drunk, but it results in her miscarrying]].
* YourCheatingHeart: On at least two occasions, Tiger has the opportunity open to him to sleep with prostitutes. Both times, however, he doesn't get to go through with it because the women don't think highly of him due to him being an Indian.

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* WouldHitAGirl: Joe Martin [[DomesticAbuse fights regularly]] with his common-law wife, Rita, and Tiger also recalls that Deen, another of his neighbors, once kicked his wife in front of everyone simply because she came into Tall Boy's shop while he was having a drink and asked him for money. Tiger himself, early in the novel, determines that he'll "bully the life out of" Urmilla if she doesn't do what he tells her. [[spoiler:He later does beat Urmilla while drunk, but it results in her miscarrying]].
* YourCheatingHeart: On at least two occasions, Tiger has the opportunity open to him to sleep with prostitutes. Both times, however, he doesn't get to go through with it because the women don't think highly of him due to him being an Indian.
miscarrying]].
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fixed alignment of cover image


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* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:Tiger and Urmilla's second child dies]].



* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Subverted with Tiger and Urmilla's second child]].
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* CallingTheOldManOut: Near the end of the novel, Tiger [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome does this]] to two doctors (one an Indian, one a Negro) who had earlier refused to come and see Urmilla in her moment of illness because of their assumptions born of elitism and FantasticRacism.

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* CallingTheOldManOut: Near the end of the novel, Tiger [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome does this]] this to two doctors (one an Indian, one a Negro) who had earlier refused to come and see Urmilla in her moment of illness because of their assumptions born of elitism and FantasticRacism.



* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: In Joe's backstory, at age 16, he [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome gives one to]] [[EvilMatriarch Ma Lambie]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard in retaliation]] [[LaserGuidedKarma for]] [[TheDogBitesBack her constant abuse of him]]. [[spoiler:Tiger later inflicts this on Urmilla while drunk, causing her to miscarry]].

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* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: In Joe's backstory, at age 16, he [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome gives one to]] to [[EvilMatriarch Ma Lambie]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard in retaliation]] [[LaserGuidedKarma for]] [[TheDogBitesBack her constant abuse of him]]. [[spoiler:Tiger later inflicts this on Urmilla while drunk, causing her to miscarry]].



* WhatTheHellHero: In what is possibly her CrowningMomentOfAwesome, Rita gives Tiger a savage telling-off when he expresses suspicion of Urmilla cheating on him (and the lecture takes up a whole long paragraph). Later on, Joe subjects Tiger to a much shorter but more threatening lecture for ignoring Urmilla in her time of illness [[spoiler:shortly before her miscarriage]].

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* WhatTheHellHero: In what is possibly her CrowningMomentOfAwesome, Rita gives Tiger a savage telling-off when he expresses suspicion of Urmilla cheating on him (and the lecture takes up a whole long paragraph). Later on, Joe subjects Tiger to a much shorter but more threatening lecture for ignoring Urmilla in her time of illness [[spoiler:shortly before her miscarriage]].

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this isn't a magical realism book, I presume...


The story also delves into the lives of Tiger's multi-ethnic neighbors in his new community of Barataria, the FantasticRacism that is both subtly and openly expressed there and throughout Trinidad at large, and how the nation as a whole is affected by the war happening hundreds of miles away from the Caribbean shores.

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The story also delves into the lives of Tiger's multi-ethnic neighbors in his new community of Barataria, the FantasticRacism racism that is both subtly and openly expressed there and throughout Trinidad at large, and how the nation as a whole is affected by the war happening hundreds of miles away from the Caribbean shores.



* FantasticRacism: All over the place, but especially expressed by Indians and Blacks against each other.



* YourCheatingHeart: On at least two occasions, Tiger has the opportunity open to him to sleep with prostitutes. Both times, however, he doesn't get to go through with it because the women don't think highly of him due to him being an Indian.

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* YourCheatingHeart: On at least two occasions, Tiger has the opportunity open to him to sleep with prostitutes. Both times, however, he doesn't get to go through with it because the women don't think highly of him due to him being an Indian.
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None


Set in WorldWarII-era Trinidad, the story centers on a young Indian native named Tiger, who is placed in an arranged marriage at age 16. Leaving home with his equally-young bride Urmilla, Tiger struggles to come to terms with his newly-acquired adult status and proving that he has, in fact, reached true manhood.

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Set in WorldWarII-era UsefulNotes/WorldWarII-era Trinidad, the story centers on a young Indian native named Tiger, who is placed in an arranged marriage at age 16. Leaving home with his equally-young bride Urmilla, Tiger struggles to come to terms with his newly-acquired adult status and proving that he has, in fact, reached true manhood.

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* ParentalAbandonment: Joe's mother left him with his grand-aunt Ma Lambie, and nobody ever knew who his father was. Also, Henry's mother left him with Joe and Rita (his uncle and aunt) to live with a boyfriend in Venezuela, and his father is out of the picture as well.


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* ParentalAbandonment: Joe's mother left him with his grand-aunt Ma Lambie, and nobody ever knew who his father was. Also, Henry's mother left him with Joe and Rita (his uncle and aunt) to live with a boyfriend in Venezuela, and his father is out of the picture as well.
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None

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* WouldHitAGirl: Joe Martin [[DomesticAbuse fights regularly]] with his common-law wife, Rita, and Tiger also recalls that Deen, another of his neighbors, once kicked his wife in front of everyone simply because she came into Tall Boy's shop while he was having a drink and asked him for money. Tiger himself, early in the novel, determines that he'll "bully the life out of" Urmilla if she doesn't do what he tells her. [[spoiler:He later does beat Urmilla while drunk, but it results in her miscarrying]].
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None

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* ExecutiveMeddling: "A Brighter Sun" was not Selvon's first choice of a title for the novel, according to its foreword; instead, he had intended to call it "Soul and Soil," or "Highway in the Sun," the name which was eventually given to the novel's radio version 15 years after its first publication. Still, the current title is an appropriate one, as the foreword also admits.
--> At the end of the novel, Tiger, chastened and humbled by experience, looks forward, as does the country he is made to represent, to [[TitleDrop a brighter sun]], shedding its lambent light of independence, racial harmony, and increasing knowledge.
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* CulturalRebel: Tiger and Boysie. Tiger admits at one point that he was never into the habit of attending the various Indian feasts in his village, and he doesn't subscribe to the notion of only interacting with members of his own race. Boysie openly parades around with a black girlfriend, enjoying the stares he gets from old-fashioned Indians for it, and makes a point of hailing couples who are similarly mixed-raced whenever he passes them on the street.
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* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Both Tiger and the narrative only ever refer to his American boss as Chief.
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* AccidentalMisnaming: Tiger's boss, Chief, calls him John. It's played with in that Chief ''knows'' what Tiger's name actually is, but simply calls him John for ease of reference.


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--> '''Chief:''' How come you have such a funny name, John? Why did they call you Tiger?
--> '''Tiger:''' I don't know, I must be resemble a tiger!

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* CharacterDevelopment: Tiger gets this over time.

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* CharacterDevelopment: Tiger gets this over time.time, learning what it means to really be a man and to grow into maturity. Urmilla also grows, becoming more confident as a wife and mother.


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* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Subverted with Tiger and Urmilla's second child]].
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a_brighter_sun_3647.jpg
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* YourCheatingHeart: On at least two occasions, Tiger has the opportunity open to him to sleep with prostitutes. Both times, however, he doesn't get to go through with it because the women don't think highly of him due to him being an Indian.
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None

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* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"...the baby born dead."]].
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--> '''Joe:''' What happen? You don't see your wife at home sick? You carrying on like a little boy still. If I was your father, I beat you till you can't stand up.

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* CallingTheOldManOut: Near the end of the novel, Tiger [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome does this]] to two doctors (one an Indian, one a Negro) who had earlier refused to come and see Urmilla in her moment of illness because of their assumptions born of FantasticRacism.

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* CallingTheOldManOut: Near the end of the novel, Tiger [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome does this]] to two doctors (one an Indian, one a Negro) who had earlier refused to come and see Urmilla in her moment of illness because of their assumptions born of elitism and FantasticRacism.



* DinnerWithTheBoss: Late into the story, Tiger invites two of his American bosses, who've long wanted to eat Indian cuisine in a genuine Indian home, to come to his home for dinner. Unfortunately, since Tiger decides to inform Urmilla of this the night before the scheduled home visit, Urmilla is put under pressure to make things go perfectly for the Americans. With help from Rita (and borrowing some of the latter's furniture, cutlery and an electrical wire to get electricity into the house), she manages to pull it off. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, a drunken Tiger doesn't appreciate her effort and beats her for talking back to him, causing her to miscarry later]].



* FunPersonified: Boysie.



* HappilyAdopted: Henry, Rita's nephew, was left with her by her sister, who ran off to Venezuela with a man. Despite this, he's come to accept Joe and Rita as his parents, even calling them "Pa" and "Ma," and they care for him too, in part because Rita can't have children of her own.
--> '''Joe:''' Don't mind Henry ain't my child, it's just as if he was mine.



* IllGirl: Urmilla, during the last third of the book. She gets better. [[spoiler:Her unborn child doesn't.]]

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* IllGirl: Urmilla, during the last third of the book. She gets better. [[spoiler:Her unborn child doesn't.]]doesn't]].


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* SheCleansUpNicely: To prepare for Tiger's bosses coming home for dinner, Rita has Urmilla put on some makeup, including lipstick and rouge, despite Urmilla insisting Tiger won't like it. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Urmilla's right]]]].
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''A Brighter Sun'' is a novel by Trinidadian author Samuel Selvon, published in 1952.

Set in WorldWarII-era Trinidad, the story centers on a young Indian native named Tiger, who is placed in an arranged marriage at age 16. Leaving home with his equally-young bride Urmilla, Tiger struggles to come to terms with his newly-acquired adult status and proving that he has, in fact, reached true manhood.

The story also delves into the lives of Tiger's multi-ethnic neighbors in his new community of Barataria, the FantasticRacism that is both subtly and openly expressed there and throughout Trinidad at large, and how the nation as a whole is affected by the war happening hundreds of miles away from the Caribbean shores.

The book was Selvon's first of 10 novels, published by Longman Publishers.

!!Tropes present in ''A Brighter Sun'':
* AbusiveParents: Joe Martin's grand-aunt, Ma Lambie, frequently beat him during his childhood.
* TheAlcoholic: Sookdeo is the village drunkard, and can never go without a drink; some persons claim that he'll die from either too much rum or lack of it. [[spoiler:The latter case turns out to be true; he [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness refuses to have a drink]] when his land is taken over, having lost his reason and will for living]].
* AuthorAvatar: Tiger is noted in the novel's commentary to be Selvon's point-man on the unification of a racially-split Trinidad. Selvon himself, though Indian, [[RealLifeWritesThePlot was brought up with exposure to Creole food and culture]].
* CallingTheOldManOut: Near the end of the novel, Tiger [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome does this]] to two doctors (one an Indian, one a Negro) who had earlier refused to come and see Urmilla in her moment of illness because of their assumptions born of FantasticRacism.
* CharacterDevelopment: Tiger gets this over time.
* ComingOfAgeStory
* CoolBigSis: Rita becomes this for Urmilla.
* CoolOldGuy: Sookdeo.
* DomesticAbuse: A regular occurrence between Joe and Rita, with Joe usually being the aggressor. However, Rita can dish out as much as she takes.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Urmilla, but only because she's not used to wearing shoes to begin with, due to her Indian background.
* FantasticRacism: All over the place, but especially expressed by Indians and Blacks against each other.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex
* HappilyMarried: Tall Boy and Mary. Tiger and Urmilla gradually work at becoming this.
* IllGirl: Urmilla, during the last third of the book. She gets better. [[spoiler:Her unborn child doesn't.]]
* JerkAss: Numerous characters, but Deen and his wife stand out in particular. Tiger gradually becomes this as well; however, he gets much-needed CharacterDevelopment.
* ParentalAbandonment: Joe's mother left him with his grand-aunt Ma Lambie, and nobody ever knew who his father was. Also, Henry's mother left him with Joe and Rita (his uncle and aunt) to live with a boyfriend in Venezuela, and his father is out of the picture as well.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Tiger feels intense remorse [[spoiler:for beating Urmilla]], but it only comes after he's sobered up and gotten a WhatTheHellHero from Joe.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: In Joe's backstory, at age 16, he [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome gives one to]] [[EvilMatriarch Ma Lambie]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard in retaliation]] [[LaserGuidedKarma for]] [[TheDogBitesBack her constant abuse of him]]. [[spoiler:Tiger later inflicts this on Urmilla while drunk, causing her to miscarry]].
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Sookdeo.
* RuleOfSymbolism: The sun as a figure of hope; hence, the novel's title. Also, [[TruthInTelevision sugar-cane fields as a figure of enslavement]].
* ShrinkingViolet: Urmilla.
* SupremeChef: Both Rita and Urmilla.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Tiger and Rita.
* WhatTheHellHero: In what is possibly her CrowningMomentOfAwesome, Rita gives Tiger a savage telling-off when he expresses suspicion of Urmilla cheating on him (and the lecture takes up a whole long paragraph). Later on, Joe subjects Tiger to a much shorter but more threatening lecture for ignoring Urmilla in her time of illness [[spoiler:shortly before her miscarriage]].
* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Tiger's boss [[LampshadeHanging remarks]] on how odd his name is.

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