Lester Barnes Character Analysis

After explaining the history of the Jamaican word irie, the narrator suggests that the definition of the word will one day move on to become something entirely unrecognizable and devoid of history. While this suggestion may eventually come to pass, the novel overwhelmingly insists that even if people are unaware of the history of something, including the definition of irie, the word doesn't actually exist outside of that history. Essentially, the original definition of the word doesn't cease to exist, simply because someone is unaware of what it is. Further, that original definition still plays into how someone uses the word, meaning also that definitions are never truly obsolete. This reinforces the idea that everyone and everything in the world of the novel is connected in a number of seemingly mysterious ways, and further, that nobody can escape history.