The Schoolmaster

The tragic story of Kumaca, a village in a remote area of Trinidad. The village wanted a school so that their children would be taught how to read and write. They wanted also development in the form of a road to be constructed from the nearest town, which will bring in commerce and other changes like in other parts of country. When the white Catholic priest warned them of the negative consequences they would not listen. So they had their school, and they had their wish met in the construction of a road.

Then the schoolmaster, after all the teaching and developmental ideas he’d imparted, damaged his credibility by raping Christiana, the only daughter of the man who had fought most for the school to be built. Christiana could not tell her father nor Pedro whom she was to marry for fear of what they would do. But she told the priest, who confronted the schoolmaster, who then decided to marry Christiana. But his decision came too late because the marriage between Christiana and Pedro had already been sealed.

To save herself from the shame, Christiana decides to drown herself in the river during the night. And the schoolmaster could not escape the wrath of the villagers. As he was leaving the village atop a horse, a shot hit the horse and he fell and broke his head against a stone, dying instantly.

March 30, 2015. Review initially written in 2001. Novel first published in 1968. Picture source: Yahoo (Images).