9
votes
Accepted
Why is the colour of Caliban's girls important?
This is a strange question for a number of reasons. First of all, it's quite broad and meandering. There's a lot of assumptions in the question that aren't correct and need to be corrected. I mention ...
- 154
8
votes
How do people "kiss their teeth" in Nalo Hopkinson's novels?
I found an explanation of "kissing teeth" in a blog post by Azizi Powell on Pancocojams, a blog which (in its own words) showcases the customs of people of Black descent throughout the world....
- 71.1k
6
votes
What does the last line of Nalo Hopkinson's "Shift" mean?
I already briefly mentioned this in my response about the pronouns in "Shift", but there a few things I can add.
The story's last lines are spoken by Caliban, who has so far always referred to ...
- 44k
5
votes
Accepted
Why are pronouns used in this way in Nalo Hopkinson's "Shift"?
Nalo Hopkinson's story "Shift" reuses characters from Shakespeare's play The Tempest, a play that has frequently been discussed with a specific focus on colonialism/post-colonialism, race ...
- 44k
4
votes
What does the last line of Nalo Hopkinson's "Shift" mean?
This utterance is significant because it marks what could be a turning point in Caliban's life.
Up till now, he's been seeking out the women he thinks will change him, because he wants them to turn ...
- 71.1k
4
votes
Why does Tan-Tan name her child Tubman?
Strictly speaking, the choice of the child's name is not Tan-Tan's decision but the author's.
The book's setting is a Caribbean-colonised planet (Toussaint) and another planet, New Half-Way Tree, to ...
- 44k
3
votes
What's with the reference to "Alice in Wonderland" in Nalo Hopkinson's "The Reverse Cheshire Cat"?
Based on another of her short stories, "Ally", we get some insight in Hopkinson's use of the "Cheshire Cat".
Unlike the Cheshire Cat’s, his smile became a little more real as he
quoted back: “‘...
- 1,923
3
votes
What's the significance of the name Loyola?
Hopkinson's use of St. Loyola's name could be in reference to St. Loyola's founding of the Society of Jesus. In "The Reverse Cheshire Cat", Prof and Loyola are similar to missionaries, but ...
- 171
2
votes
What is the relevance of the title of Nalo Hopkinson's "A Raggy Dog, a Shaggy Dog"?
Tammy Griggs, the story's narrator, loves orchids: she makes a living making plant arrangements, which may include orchids, she has tattoos of orchids on her body, her apartment is like an orchid ...
- 44k
2
votes
What does "nuh" mean here in "Shift" by Nalo Hopkinson?
I think you have the right answer on what "nuh" means but you haven't captured her style of speaking. When trying to read the passage aloud, I find I lapse into something like a Scottish lilt (I'm ...
2
votes
What does "nuh" mean here in "Shift" by Nalo Hopkinson?
According to the website Jamaican Patwah, nuh has two meanings:
No; example: "nuh sad story" (meaning: "no bad news");
Not; example: "It nuh di deh" (meaning: "It is not there").
However, replacing ...
- 44k
2
votes
Relevance of Findlay's poem 'Stolen' to Hopkinson's novel Midnight Robber
The poem is a nod to the use of Caribbean creoles in the novel.
My best source for this is actually something I found as one of the top hits when I searched the web for david findlay stolen in the ...
- 71.1k
1
vote
Relevance of tiger limerick to Gilla's story
The limerick used in the story can be seen as a text about two types of domination:
domination of a man be a woman (assuming the tiger is male) and
domination of nature by humans.
The theme of ...
- 44k
1
vote
How do people "kiss their teeth" in Nalo Hopkinson's novels?
Kissing teeth, or the "velaric ingressive airstream involving closure at two points in the mouth" may be considered disrespectful and a culpable expression of contempt. It is banned in many French ...
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1
vote
When is "fe" used in Nalo Hopkinson's "Shift"?
Most likely, "fe" is Hopkinson's or Ariel's version of "fi" in Jamaican Patois. "Shift" does not use pure Jamaican Patois, since that would make the story to hard to read.
The Wikipedia article on ...
- 44k
1
vote
Significance of 'There was a time they called porridge “gruel.”'
I’m not sure that the use of ‘gruel’ sustains deep scrutiny into the history of the dish or the term.
Although many sources state that it was a ‘thinner’ porridge, which leads to a general, ‘Oliver ...
- 18.6k
1
vote
Why is the colour of Caliban's girls important?
My answer about the pronouns in "Shift" focused on the opposition between nature (and a person's nature and roots) on the one hand, and technology-based civilisation on the other. My interpretation of ...
- 44k
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