The Caribbean

Like other poems in the collection I is a Long-Memoried Woman, "Sugar Cane" takes place in the Caribbean. Sugarcane thrives in warm climates, which is why it is grown in tropical and subtropical regions. For centuries, enslavement was a key part of Caribbean economy and society. After being introduced to the Caribbean in the late 15th century, sugarcane played a pivotal role in its political ecology (how social and environmental systems interact). In "Sugar Cane," the speaker does not explicitly focus on the surrounding landscape, but instead describes the sugarcane itself as well as the extreme surrounding weather (which includes intense heat, heavy rain, and hurricanes).

Sugarcane Plantation

Nichols evokes the brutal working conditions at sugarcane plantations where enslaved Africans and their descendants were forced to toil in inhumane conditions. The "burning fever / and delirium" bring to mind both illness and extreme heat (22-23). Growing, harvesting, and...