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Shamira Coye
Dr. Loskot
ENGL 105(02)
June 9, 2020
Critical Analysis of “The Representative.”
Corruption within a country is best described as the ruthless mismanagement and stealing

of public funds and resources for personal gain. Having good governance means there is honesty,

integrity, transparency and accountability. Political corruption therefore brings changes for the

worse by destabilizing a society and rendering great harm to the nation. Lord Acton (1887) said

that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Dr. Colville Young wrote

the book of “Pataki Full” which was published in 1991. The anthology consist of seven short

stories with each capturing the essence of the Belizean culture. In the story, “The

Representative” he portrays how political corruption impacts society.

The story “The Representative” will be viewed under the lenses of Marxist and Social

action theory to uncover themes of political corruption and poverty. Many people in society

would see poverty as the result of the individual choices one makes. Therefore, the story will be

observed to answer these two questions: “What are the political and social issues presented in the

story and how does the story “The Representative” portray the political system and Belizean

culture of today?” Political corruption not only increases income inequality but also causes lower

economic growth, biased tax system that of course favors the wealthy people, poor management

of tax money and inequality of education. In the story we can see how Dr. Young (1991)

elaborates on the protagonist Jonas Harold Parker a politician who has been misusing the power

given to him. The character is presented as a greedy individual and corrupted politician who has

no interest in the welfare of the citizens of Belize (p.54). He sighed and for the thousandth time
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wondered why he did not take his wife advice and leave politics (Young.1991, p. 55) He was in

politics for pure personal interest.

Dr. Young (1991) himself has been involved in politics since 1993 as the Governor

General of Belize. We can see this theme being depicted in most of his stories especially in the

story “The Representative.” He was also a member in the National Independence Party. He then

ran as the NIP candidate for the British Honduras Legislative Assembly in 1965 and 1969 where

he gained great knowledge of the political system. His experience as a politician gives him a

great insight of how political corruption affects a society and a country as a whole. In “The

Representative” the author not only uses a narrative style to show the sociocultural issues of the

time in which it was written but it also reveals how Belizeans of certain communities lived in

such oppressive socioeconomic conditions. He leads his audience to understand the complex

nature of political power and ongoing corruption which is presently seen in the country of Belize.

At the beginning of the story Dr. Young (1991) uses a historical allusion referring to the 1920s

when only vats were used in Belize (p.53). As he continues describing that part of the city we

can visualize the deplorable condition in which the people lived. The streets were dusty with lots

of potholes and the houses were referred to as “shanty” (Young, p.55) Under the Marxist lens we

can see a class structure when he mentions that “families that depended on vats for their water

supply had taken to locking their faucets at night; begging, stealing, buying a bucket of water”

(Young, p.53). According to Lois Tyson, Marxism focuses on the socio-economic class divisions

of a society. This socio-economic differences is between the haves and haves not (Tyson, 2006,

p.54). Dr. Young uses symbolism to represent the idea of social classes in Belize. “Begging”

symbolizes the low standard of living where these people cannot afford to buy their basic needs.
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“Stealing” shows the frustration and the desperate condition in which people were due to poverty

and “buying a bucket of water” represents the high standard of living where a few of them can

afford to pay for their basic needs. This is currently being experienced in today’s society

especially with politicians. The money that they should use with their constituency is used for

their own gain. Their families and children live in luxurious conditions and have better

opportunities to receive an education whilst the people who voted for them continue living in

poverty and have little opportunity and resources to get educated.

Dr. Young (1991) provides several literature devices such as imagery to help the audience appeal

their senses and be able to visualize the negative aspects of the location in the story (p.53). After

providing his audience with a clear picture of the living conditions of the citizens of this

community, he introduces the representative in charge of that area. Jonas Harold Parker had

abandoned his area for the past four years. The only reason he went to visit his constituency is

because the party leader had given him and ultimatum. (Young, p.54).The author uses his candid

and humor writing style to inform the people that the politicians are just the result of the poor

governance of party leaders thus giving us the idea that the leader himself is corrupt and unjust

by allowing this area representative to be part of his party knowing that he has neglected his area

for four years. Yet, he decided until now to place an ultimatum to the area preventative. It is

clear that political corruption has been the bane of legitimacy, democratic stability, socio

economic and political development in Belize. Ministers are no longer selected because of their

abilities to help govern the country but are now appointed based on how loyal they are to their

party. This therefore is the reason of why there are many incompetent ministers governing our

country.
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Dr. Young (1991) then goes on highlighting the socio cultural aspects of that time. He gives each

character a personality that resembled the Belizeans in today’s society. When Honorable Jonas

Parker visited the first house he is received by “a girl of about eight years who peeped out. Her

hair was plaited in corn-rows and she was very dark” (Young, p.55). Dr. Young uses this

character to portray the stereotype of having only black people living in Belize. (p.55) Even

around the world many tourists and persons interested in visiting Belize think that only colored-

people live in Belize. The story continues when Jonas Parker expertly starts “searching his

pocket for candy” showing the act of bribery. (Young, p. 56). Since vote buying has become so

rampant in our country the politicians have lost total respect for us. They believe that once they

have money to buy our votes they no longer need us. Jonas Parker then tells the young girl that it

is because of him that there is prosperity in the land which is ironical because of the living

conditions in which people are living. He points shamelessly at the street and says that because

of him they have a street and turkey on the table (Young, p.56). Dr. Young portrays this

character as a cynical individual. It is evident with the description of the environment that Jonas

Parker had been grafting and embezzling the funds given to him to repair the streets and to assist

his constituency. The third character “Barney” (Young, p.57), a teenager of fifteen years old is

also used to represent the culture of Belize where the parents or single mothers go to work and

the oldest brother or sister stays home and take care of their siblings. We can see the inequality

of education because many of these teenagers drop out of school due to lack of finance and end

up being criminals or drug users. According to Trueman (2015) Social action theory focuses on

the human behavior, social groups and society. Individual behavior is influenced by the presence

of others. Especially in children who grow up in poverty they are more prone to exhibiting

violent and aggressive behavior like these children in the story. This can be caused due to living
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in a violent environment, listening to parents always complaining of the necessities at home and

living amongst gang members. Parents work all day and have no time to build a trusting

environment for them so they grow up being mad at the world thinking that this is all there is for

them. Nevertheless, they are the only ones who can decide how their position in society will

affect them. They either remain compliance to the oppression of those in power or decided to

break the cycle and make a change.

Dr. Young (1991) then proceeds to explain how Jonas Parker had a rude awakening of the reality

of politics and how it affected the people especially the poor. He thought of how difficult it must

be to live in these poor conditions. Political corruption is one of the major reasons of why people

live in poverty. Politics is not only seen in the polling booth. It is something done to us on a daily

basis because the world in which we live is shaped by the power of those who control the media,

of those who monopolize ours newspaper, television channels and of those who manipulate our

desires and taste in popular culture. Therefore, persons living in these communities grow

oppressed having no hope and being angry at the world.

Dr. Young (1991) ends the story with a Creole proverb “Mary living well, while (Young,

p.59). This is very symbolic to the actions which take place in this story and of actions we

currently see every day. The political view that he has is that the people in power such as

politicians are living well while the voters, who elected them, suffer to provide basic needs for

their family. Ministers are often seen living lavishly and having a well-put together lifestyle.

While the people who placed them in that position are living in impoverished conditions. In this

story, Honorable Jonas Parker is presented as the area representative who is doing his best

attempt to win the hearts of the people of that area, the same people which he has neglected for

several years. The social aspect shown demonstrates Mr. Parker’s imposition on the people when
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he needs their vote. He does not care about their living conditions but is more concerned that he

has to be around these conditions to interact with them. This is still seen in today’s society where

the rich people feel they are superior to those of lower class.

The author demonstrates a fair perspective of the topic making his point clear of the

political and social issues caused by corrupted politicians. Dr. Young (1991) ends the story in a

manner that allows the reader to understand that in politics the win is dependent on the

circumstances and issues on the general election year. He shows how politicians exploit Belize

and Belizeans but, at the end of the five years, they give back a tiny bit to society expecting that

it has a positive effect on the election results. He intends to have the readers generalize both

parties, in which they both forget the populace for four years living like “Mary” and the rest like

“Martha ketching hell” (Young, p.59). Furthermore, he reinstates in the sentence “They would be

growing up soon” to demonstrate that politics in Belize has not changed despite the years, and

they expect the Belizeans to be the same close- minded people. “Marxist believes that the

proletariat will one day develop the class consciousness needed to rise up in violent revolution

against their opponents” (Tyson, 2006, p. 54). Politicians don’t realize that the younger, educated

Belizeans have their own mind and are expected to think differently with no political colors but

actions in progress. The generation of today might not stand up and fight against their

oppressors, but the children and youth are witness of the injustice and inequality in the country

of Belize. There will be a time that the new generation will stand up and say “enough is enough.”
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References

Acton, L. (1887). Retrieved from https://oll.libertyfund.org/quotes/214

Trueman, C. N. (2015). “Social Action Theory.” Retrieved July 1, 2020, from

https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sociology/theories-in-sociology/social-action-theory/

Tyson, L. (2006).Critical Theory Today. Everything you wanted to know about critical theory

but were afraid to ask. Retrieved from

https://odl.galen.edu.bz/pluginfile.php/19209/mod_resource/content/1/Critical%20Theory

%20Today.pdf

Tyson, L. (2006). Marxist Criticism. In Critical Theory Today (Ed.2), (pp11-52). New York:

London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. Retrieved from

https://odl.galen.edu.bz/pluginfile.php/19209/mod_resource/content/1/Critical%20Theory

%20Today.pdf

Young, C. (1991). Pataki Full: Seven Belizean short stories. New York, NY: Cubola

Productions. Retrieved from:

https://odl.galen.edu.bz/pluginfile.php/19635/mod_resource/content/1/The

%20Representative_Pataki%20Full.pdf

Young, C. (1991).The Representative. In Pataki Full: Seven Belizean Short Stories, (pp.53-59).

Benque Viejo del Carmen, Belize, Central America: Cubola Productions. Retrieved from

https://odl.galen.edu.bz/pluginfile.php/19631/mod_resource/content/1/To%20The%20New

%20World_%20Pataki%20Full.pdf
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