In the novel Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo, the author tells the story of Mala and her father, Chandin, in the fictional Caribbean island Lantanacamara. Published in 1996, the novel focuses on the effects of European colonization and Asian indentured labor on the people of the Caribbean. Through her portrayal of Chandin, the son of indentured Indian laborers, Mootoo shows her readers the suffering, political strife, and racial injustices he faces as he navigates his need for acceptance
The sexually violent scenes in Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo often contain Mala’s methods of maintaining a sense of control, which was stripped from her when her father began being abusive. Unable to prevent her father’s attacks, Mala finds the comfort and strength to endure them by caring for Asha, Ambrose, and Pohpoh. Despite her traumatic experiences, she is able to maintain a sense of control over herself by focusing her attention on the people she loves, demonstrating how the intermingling
these topics of gender identity can be found in a numerous amount of the works that we read including Cereus Blooms at Night, Anowa, and A Passage to India. The topic of gender identity is viewed as one finding themselves; however, in these texts, gender identity is being aware of how you feel about yourself and discovering when and how you want to speak up and show it. In Cereus Blooms at Night the storyline is built around situations of gender identity of Nurse
“I had come to Arizona expecting an endless sea of sand dunes . . . But this desert was nothing like that. There were bushes and trees and weeds here, exactly the same as anywhere else, except that the colors were different and everything alive had thorns” (Kingsolver 217). This quote, from Barbara Kingsolver's, The Bean Trees, describes the Arizona landscape that is abounding in life even in the absence of water. Central to the novel, the theme of surviving in a harsh environment is intrinsic to
and ‘other’. It is also through Celia that Pilar is able to maintain a connection to her homeland. She mentions how she communicates with Celia in Cuba saying “Abuela Celia and I write to each other sometimes, but mostly I hear her speaking to me at night before I fall asleep” (Garcia, 28). She goes on to mention how her grandmother “tells [Pilar] stories about her life and what the sea was like that day” (Garcia, 29). Suzzane Leonard notes that “Pilar’s longing for her birthplace originates in part