In the Castle of My Skin

G. is one the narrator’s of In the Castle of My Skin. He’s nine when the narrative begins and seventeen when it ends. G. spends most of the novel with his friends Bob, Trumper, and Boy Blue. The boys ponder weighty topics like mental illness, death, love, and identity. G. takes his studies seriously and gains entrance into high school, which is something only a few boys from the villages manage to do. As he learns new things at high school, his old views that were shaped by his simple village life are challenged and replaced by larger worldviews. By the end of the novel, G. is better educated, but his education has distanced him from the rest of the village as well as old friends. He accepts a teaching position in Trinidad but is plagued with the feeling that he is witnessing many things for the last time. When Trumper returns from America, G.’s worldview is again changed when he realizes that he’s part of something called the Negro race and that his worldview in Barbados is insular compared to the larger world. G. grows from a typical, selfish child who’s upset by a ruined birthday to an eager young man who’s ready to leave home and learn about