Caryl Phillips is known for writing complicated narratives. Foreigners is a three-part narrative composed of three separate stories of black men living in western society. Told from different perspectives, using different narrative devices, and in varying tones, these three miniature biographies share almost nothing in common except that the protagonists all struggle to overcome racial prejudice and poverty in their communities.
Francis Barber was a slave in 18th century England. He earns his freedom and becomes a friend of author Samuel Johnson for whom he works until the Johnson's death. Afterward his community rejects him because of his race, having only tolerated him apparently for Johnson's sake. For his part, Randolf Turpin overcomes poverty in England to become a boxing middleweight world champion in 1950. Unskilled and unprepared to handle such fame and fortune, Turpin quickly loses himself in this new social scene. His so-called friends betray him and take his money, until Turpin ends his life in just as much poverty and anonymity as he began. Finally, David Oluwale stows away to England from his homeland Nigeria. He works in the booming industrialization of Leeds, but the racism among the policemen there eventually undoes him. He is arrested falsely several times and even sent to a mental institute. Unable to find work any longer, he ends his days on the streets.
By placing these three stories in conversation with one another, Philips creates a dialogue about racism in the west, unrelated to time. The different time periods of these narrative settings illustrate the pervasiveness of the issue. The varied narrative styles also allow the reader some potential insight into the manner by which society perceived black people throughout history, as many of the narrators betray their prejudices just in describing the protagonists. The conflict between the three narratives allows readers the space to consider the complexity of social discourse through time.
In their similarities, as well, these three stories offer some food for thought. Each of the men achieves great success, but they all lose their money. Never having possessed wealth before, they don't know how to manage it well, an issue which pertains to poverty and wealth acquisition universally. Similarly, each protagonist seems to believe he is better received by his community than he actually is. They each encounter a moment of disillusionment where the racism of their neighbors becomes clear to them. They are not playing a fair game. By comparing the three narratives, Phillips provides endless opportunity for the reader to engage analytically with the book's content, hopefully with the purpose of sparking more social discourse about the disadvantages and injustices of racism today.
