What does the promise of this land mean for Selina personally, and what does this mean for the family?
What does this mean or say for all Bajan immigrants?
Why does Deighton hurry to leave the house so the smell of Codfish wont stain his clothes? Why doesnt he want people to know he is a foreigner?
In what ways has the death of her brother impacted Selina’s life & the ways the family deals with her?
In what ways has the death of her brother impacted Selina’s life & the ways the family deals with her?
ReplyDeleteSelina's brother died before she was born, but she knows him from the family photograph. After a short argument with Ina, Selina goes to the other room to examine the picture and while doing that gives the reader an insight to the story behind it. Selina says that when her brother died "she had come, strong and well-made, to take his place." This sentence suggests that Selina thinks that her grieving parents decided to have another child who would alleviate their suffering. Selina feels that her only role on the Earth is to be a substitute of her brother. It is suggested by the melancholic tone of the next sentence: "But they had taken no photographs…" It looks like Selina looks at all the little aspects as a possible hints that her parents see her as their dead son, that she is not important. This situation creates a tension between them.
During an argument between Silla and Selina, the mother accidentally says,"Look how yup brother…" It provokes Selina, who replies that she is not her brother: I'm not him. I'm me. Selina." These short, but punchy sentences suggest that Selina was claiming her identity. She wants the mother to see that she is wrong by implanting her son into the identity of her younger daughter.
It is also interesting that the reader doesn't learn the name of the brother, which might be the way of showing that he is still alive - in Selina.
This situation is tremendously difficult for Salina, who is growing up in the environment where her closest family put pressure on her identity. Selina has to persuade them about the real nature of her self, which is extremely difficult especially if somebody is just ten years old.
I agree with Izabela that Selina feels her parents treat her as if she is a substitute for the brother who pre-deceased her birth. However, I disagree with her point that Selina thinks they decided to have another child to alleviate their suffering. The narrator allows the reader to hear Selina’s thoughts in this moment, and she thinks “He had been frail and dying with a bad heart while she had been stirring into life. She had lain curled in the mother’s stomach, waiting for his dying to be complete, she knew, peering through the pores as the box containing his body was lowered into the ground” (8). These sentences imply that Selina was already conceived before he died. This does not change the fact that her parents still may think of her as a replacement, but it does change the way the reader understands how Selina sees herself. She says she was waiting for her brother to die so she could be born, even alluding to witnessing his funeral while inside her mother’s womb. This is a very morbid thought for a ten year old to have and suggests that she may feel some form of survivor’s guilt. It is as if she believes she could only be born if her brother died, like she took his life from him and is somehow to blame for this. Again, these are dark thoughts for a child to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteSince Izabela already addressed the ways Silla deals with Selina, I will talk about Deighton’s interactions with his daughter. Selina feels much more aligned with her father than her mother. Before she slams the photograph down, a violent gesture suggesting her attempts to reject the painful situation, Selina acknowledges that her father “was the only one that she believed in the picture” and that he “was the one constant in the flux and unreality of life” (8). The trust and confidence she has in Deighton makes the beginning of his argument with Silla all the more significant for the reader. When Deighton returns home and asks where Selina is, Silla tells him she’s out playing but she is annoyed because she says Deighton “does think she’s a boy … You like you does forget the boy dead and she ain he” (24). He does not deny this accusation, instead replying “Oh Christ-Jesus, woman, why reef up that?” (24). This affirms for the reader that Selina’s suspicions are not unfounded. Even her father, who she feels closest to, cannot help himself from considering Selina an alternate for her brother.
Brigida, Izabela writes that Selina thinks her grieving parents had her to alleviate their suffering. We know that she was conceived before her brother's death, but she is a ten year old girl. I don't know much about what ten year olds know about reproduction or things like that but I can understand how she would feel like a replacement for her brother, especially given that there are no pictures of her in the house. The family is always talking about him as well. I agree with Izabela in her thoughts of this. I also agree with your assessment of Deighton. He does look at her as an alternate just as Silla does. I think your portrayal just reinforces Izabela's thoughts.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Josephine. I'm really not disagreeing with Izabela much. The only small problem I had with your argument, Izabela, was that I don't think Selina believed that her original role was to be a replacement. However, I realize now that this is sort of subjective and not really essential to an understanding of Selina as a character. Also, for the record, you're probably right about Selina being ignorant on the mechanics of reproduction, Josephine. After all, she discusses her sister's period in such vague terms because she doesn't seem to know what's happening to her.
ReplyDelete