Me Dying Trial.

• Author: Mujica, Barbara

Reviewed by Jorge Hernande Martin The relationship between men and women has a long, complex history and deep, twisted roots. Critics, historians, and fiction writers have increasingly addressed gender issues by radically questioning assumptions and practices in contemporary society. The first novel by Jamaican-born Patricia Powell brings gender inequality under fire by celebrating a woman's independence and nonconformity with established gender roles as liberating experiences he face of oppression.

In Me Dying Trial, the omniscient and markedly Caribbean narrator follows the eventful life of the unhappily married Gwennie as she gains her independence and strikes out on her own. Although we are told that Gwennie and her husband, Walter, spent their first few years in blissful marriage, as the novel begins, Walter is a drunk who is not beyond striking his wife or children. The positive male presence in the beginning of the novel is the kind and gentle Luther, who treats Gwennie like a queen and gives her what she misses from her marriage. Unfortunately, Peppy, the fruit of their union, grows into a little girl with a grin exactly like Luther's. Curiously, Walter seems to be the only one who doesn't see the resemblance, but to keep it this way, Gwennie sends Peppy off to be raised (and subsequently spoiled) by Aunty Cora under the pretense that there are too many "pickneys" in the house as it is. At this point Luther fades from the narrative. Peppy grows up apart from her brothers and sisters, while Gwennie leaves home for a while to gain her teaching certification at Churchill Teachers College.

In her absence, the eight-year-old Rudi manages to take care of the other three children (the last, Rosa, is not on the scene yet), despite Walter's frequent alcoholic binges, absences, and beatings. While in school, Gwennie makes fast friends with Percy Clock, with whom she spends all her time, although their relationship remains platonic. (Later we find out that Percy is "a man who loves other men.") Through this friendship Gwennie is transformed. She becomes a social activist, attending meetings and writing letters aimed at improving "welfare programs, the standard of medical care in public hospitals in rural areas, the availability of effective birth control methods as well as sex education classes [and] the prohibition of police brutality." Walter is insanely jealous of Gwennie's new liberated self-accusing her of always and "kissing her teeth"...