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Cliff

Cliff. From Wide Sargasso Sea.

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Cliff

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  1. Cliff

  2. From Wide Sargasso Sea • Then, not so far off, I saw Tia and her mother and I ran to her, for she was all that I had left of my life as it had been. We had eaten the same food, slept side by side, bathed in the same river. As I ran, I thought, I will live with Tia and be like her. Not to leave Coulibri. Not to go. Not. When I was close I saw her the jagged stone in her hand but I did not see her throw it. I did not feel it either, only something wet, running down my face. I looked at her and I saw her face crumple up as she began to cry. We stared at each other, blood on my face, tears on hers. It was as if I saw myself. Like in a looking glass. (45)

  3. From Abeng • That night Clare dreamed that she and Zoe were fist-fighting by the river in St. Elizabeth. That she picked up a stone and hit Zoe underneath the eye and a trickle of blood ran down her friend’s face and onto the rock where she sat. The blood formed into a pool where the rock folded over on itself. And she went over to Zoe and told her she was sorry—making a compress of moss drenched in water to soothe the cut. Then Squeezing an aloe leaf to the wound. (165) . . . She was not ready to understand her dream. She had no idea that everyone we dream about we are. (166)

  4. What’s the same? • Race – a “black” girl and a “white” one confront each other. • Dream like quality of the scene. • Blood running.

  5. What’s different? • In Rhys the white girl is the victim. In Cliff, the white girl throws the stone. • Lack of identity – Antoinette sees herself in Tia. Clare does not make that identifying move until later in No Telephone to Heaven. • Cliff calls attention to the dynamics of racial power, rather than to the cultural impasse of the heroine.

  6. POV • WSS is 1st person, NTTH is 3rd. • How many different points of focalization? • Rhys – Antoinette, the unnamed protagonist, Grace Poole • Cliff – Clare, Harry/Harriet, Christopher, Paul H., Bobby, Boy, Kitty, Mavis, Christopher’s grandmother, Englishman/Producer • What difference does this make in your reading? Your interpretation?

  7. Race • On JE, Bertha is a beast, her racial identity, her darkness makes her bestial. • In WSS there is some doubt about Antoinette’s race or racial preference. Rhys tries to rewrite Charlotte Bronte’s racism or racial portrait of Bertha. • What about NTTH? What is Cliff’s attitude toward race? What does this do to your interpretation of the text? How does it affect your reading?

  8. Travel • In both books, the protagonist travels from Jamaica to England. But by what path? How does Cliff’s triangulation of that path (she goes to American first) affect your reading?

  9. Can the subaltern speak? • Who is subaltern here? • Clare? • Harry/Harriet? • Christopher? • Which one is most out of voice? Most inarticulate?

  10. Interpellation • Interpellation – the moment of recognition which determines how you respond to situations. A person’s acknowledgment of their subject position. • See p. 37-38 of text • Interpellation as pain? • Clare • Harry/Harriet • Christopher • Bobby • Interpellation as pleasure? • Boy • Paul H. • Producer/Director/Film Crew

  11. Decolonizing the Mind • What does this term mean? • Who manages to do this? • Who fails? • What is one who is decolonizing the mind struggling with?

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