Toycie Qualo is a secondary character in the novel Beka Lamb

Beka Lamb

Beka Lamb is the debut novel from Belizean writer Zee Edgell, published in 1982 as part of the Heinemann Caribbean Writers Series. It won the Fawcett Society Book Prize in 1983 and was one of the first novels from Belize to gain international recognition. Deals with social insecurity, racial...

by Zee Edgell

Zee Edgell

Zelma I. Edgell, better known as Zee Edgell, MBE, is a writer. She has had four of her novels published. She is an associate professor of English at Kent State University.-Biography:...

. She is the best friend of main character Beka Lamb

Beka Lamb (character)

Beka Lamb is the title character of Beka Lamb, a novel by Zee Edgell.- Birth and family :Beka Lamb is born into a middle class Belizean family. She lives with her mother, Lilla Lamb, her father, Bill Lamb, her grandmother, Miss Ivy and her brothers, Chuku and Zandy. The Lamb family was one of the...

 and girlfriend of Emilio Villanueva.

Education

Toycie is a seventeen-year-old senior at St. Cecilia's Academy in the beginning of the novel. An exemplary student, she aspires to raise both herself and her aunt out of their run-down house and the poverty it signifies. Toycie is seeing Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 student Emillio Villanueva, and it appears that everything is going for her.

When Emilio impregnates Toycie and refuses to sanctify their relationship, Toycie loses her sanity. She also loses her interest in school and any ability to function whatsoever. The strict Sister Virgil, St. Cecilia's principal, becomes aware of Toycie's situation, and she immediately expels Toycie, citing an unacceptable lack of modesty for the expulsion. However, Emilio, a student at St. Anthony's, does not appear to face any consequences for his part in the pregnancy. Toycie withdraws from all her former associates and settles into a depressed state. This eventually leads to an accident causing a miscarriage, a stay in the local mental asylum, and ultimately her death during a storm in the Stann Creek Valley (a mango

Mango

The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...

 tree fell, crushing her skull while she was wandering about during the storm).

Role in the novel

As Beka remembers, Toycie was her best friend and confidant, mainly because she understood Beka's travails. But the two friends slowly drift apart due to the attentions of Emillio Villanueva and Beka's new drive to succeed academically (a pursuit Toycie had encouraged her in).

To some reviewers, Toycie's plight as a victim of teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...

 has implications for both the social and ethnic development of the nation of Belize

Belize

Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...

. Professor Ervin Beck of Goshen College

Goshen College

Goshen College, is a private Mennonite liberal arts college in Goshen, Indiana, USA with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The college is accredited by North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, claims that the novel presents and confirms the Mestizo

Mestizo

Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

s' increasing dominance of education and economic affairs in the colony, explained by the girls' feeling that "panias" have it better than they do. With regards to Toycie herself, Beck claims her desire to "raise her colour" inevitably brings her into conflict with Emillio and with accepted social standards in the colony, not to mention at her school. Beck also notes that the interplay between Toycie and Emilio foreshadows the dominance of Mestizos in Belizean culture

Culture of Belize

The Belizean culture is made up of influences and people from Kriol, Maya, Garinagu , Mestizo , Mennonites who are of German descent, with a blend of many other cultures from Chinese to Lebanese...

, even dismissing the People's United Party

People's United Party

The People's United Party is one of two major political parties in Belize, and currently the main opposition party. It is a Christian Democratic party; the current Party Leader is Francis Fonseca....

's Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

n leanings as indicative of a culture moving away from English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 influence to Spanish

Spanish people

The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....

, despite Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's legal hold on the colony. Ultimately, though, Toycie's main influence is on Beka, who rededicates her life to education after losing her friend and obeys the call presented by her principal below:

We women must learn to control our emotions, Mr. Lamb. There are times we must stand up and say "enough" whatever our feelings. . . . The women will have to decide for a change in their lives, otherwise they will remain vulnerable. (120)

Anthony Sylvestre, an attorney writing for the Belize Times in 2007, coined the phrase "The Toycie Syndrome" to refer to the crime of infanticide

Infanticide

Infanticide or infant homicide is the killing of a human infant. Neonaticide, a killing within 24 hours of a baby's birth, is most commonly done by the mother.In many past societies, certain forms of infanticide were considered permissible...

, or concealing the death of a child. Of course, Toycie had actually lost the child to a miscarriage by the time of her death, but Sylvestre uses the emotions that befall Toycie as a metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...

in describing the emotion behind child concealment.