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Abstract

Novels that explore the British imperial system of indentured labor in the Caribbean often contain the trope of a relationship developing between a British man in power and a female Indian laborer. This essay explores the use of this relationship as a metaphor for Britain’s colonial relationship with India in two novels by contemporary Indo-Caribbean authors, David Dabydeen’s The Counting House and Sharlow’s The Promise. The Counting House and The Promise use this metaphor to attack the racist interventions of imperialism and indenture, but the novels also maintain the more conventional views of gender that were concretized under these systems and that persist in the Caribbean today.

Keywords: Indentured Labor, British Imperialism, Gender