VI. Yet another lesson from Guadeloupe ?

Condé's writing about the diversity in the US led her to investigate the diversity of her own island to further her understanding of the Caribbean identity. Her 1989 novel, Crossing the Mangrove , takes place in Guadeloupe . Crossing the Mangrove is structured around the voices of Blacks, Indians, Békés (Caribbean White upper class), Dominicans, and Haitians who are all part of the social fabric of Guadeloupe . Each chapter of the book is told from a different cultural or racial point of view, twenty to be exact!! These twenty voices all talk about Francis Sanchez, the man that brings them together at his funeral and reveal something new about Francis' personality. Their attempt to establish his identity from different perspectives parallels, on a larger scale, the attempt to determine what Caribbean identity is.