Strangers by Caryl Phillips depicts three separate stories based on historical facts and accounts of three black men living in Britain at different times. Their lives, while not literally connected, inform each other because of the substance that Phillips' writing emphasizes in each. The main aim of the text is not necessarily to define what it means to be a foreigner in Britain, but rather to understand how British identity becomes dependent on non-whites (foreigners or not) to help define its privileged group by treating all non-whites. White people as foreigners. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The book clearly focuses on African-British people, primarily Francis Barber, Randolph Turpin and David Oluwale respectively. Barber was the servant of Dr. Samuel Johnson, living in England and attending Dr. Johnson's funeral at the beginning of "Doctor Johnson's Watch" (first chapter) in London. Early narrative discussions with the reader indicate that there is a status the speaker aspires to occupy among his fellow Englishmen, and this establishes external perception as a point of focus. He talks about his place in Dr Johnson's wider circle, his apparent position as a "minor literary mind in London society" and his own biased explanations of his position alongside the "less famous" outside Bolt Short (Phillips 8). It was after these initial discussions that he finally focused on Barber, and with these ideas of status and perception in mind, he described Barber as "Dr. Johnson's faithful Negro servant." He goes on to explain what others in Dr. Johnson's circle thought of Barber: "a wastrel, a man who considered his master's needs only after the fact" (Phillips 11). He then describes Barber as being antithetical to these things in the rest of the chapter. In the second chapter, “Made in Wales,” Randolph Turpin takes his boxing career to new heights, experiencing short-lived fame and fortune. Much of Phillips' description of this segment of Turpin's life and career focuses on how Turpin is perceived in the same way that Barber himself frequently preoccupied his own mind with thoughts of how he was perceived by others. The third chapter, "Northern Lights", describes the aftermath of David Oluwale's immigration from Nigeria to Leeds in 1949, and in its entirety the third chapter is perhaps the most profound example of Phillips' commentary on the alienation, because the reader probably has all the perspectives, except Oluwale's. His story is told in its entirety by reconstructing others' perceptions of him. The text constantly refers, directly and indirectly, to this state of strangeness and describes its characteristics in relation to several people, places and things. Speaking of black boxers, the text says: "They were allowed to fight for the title of the British Empire, but whatever their weight, black boxers, even if they were, like Randolph Turpin, born and bred in Great Britain, were treated as foreigners and excluded from the British Empire. fight for their own national championship” (Phillips 91). They were only used as juxtapositions for white fighters until racist restrictions were lifted. More broadly, a long and vivid description of the journey through northern England in the third chapter concludes: “Rows of factories. Once you arrive at the station.