"Here, like everywhere else, laughing and singing, dancing and dreaming are not exactly the whole of reality; and for one ray of sun shining on the hut, the rest of the village remains in the dark"
About this Quote
The image that follows does the heavier political work. "One ray of sun shining on the hut" is a deliberately small mercy, the kind of anecdote that gets elevated into a narrative: look, there is light, there is hope, the people endure. But she scales that comfort against the "rest of the village" - not one house, but a community - "remains in the dark". Darkness here isn't just mood; it's structural: poverty, neglect, the uneven distribution of safety, food, attention. The grammar makes it feel like an accounting imbalance, a moral math problem no amount of dancing can solve.
In the context of Schwarz-Bart's writing, rooted in Caribbean histories of colonialism and its afterlives, the line reads as a warning about selective illumination. Who gets to stand in the sun? Who gets described, photographed, funded, or saved? The subtext is clear: don't confuse survival rituals with justice, and don't mistake a single lit hut for a village redeemed.
Quote Details
| Topic | Life |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Schwarz-Bart, Simone. (2026, January 16). Here, like everywhere else, laughing and singing, dancing and dreaming are not exactly the whole of reality; and for one ray of sun shining on the hut, the rest of the village remains in the dark. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/here-like-everywhere-else-laughing-and-singing-97258/
Chicago Style
Schwarz-Bart, Simone. "Here, like everywhere else, laughing and singing, dancing and dreaming are not exactly the whole of reality; and for one ray of sun shining on the hut, the rest of the village remains in the dark." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/here-like-everywhere-else-laughing-and-singing-97258/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Here, like everywhere else, laughing and singing, dancing and dreaming are not exactly the whole of reality; and for one ray of sun shining on the hut, the rest of the village remains in the dark." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/here-like-everywhere-else-laughing-and-singing-97258/. Accessed 6 Feb. 2026.
