Imagery in Abeng
In Abeng, Michelle Cliff employs vivid imagery to explore Jamaica's hybrid identity under colonialism and to reconstruct the island's suppressed histories of resistance. Through natural, color-based, domestic, and clothing imagery, the novel highlights the lingering psychological effects of colonial oppression and the possibility of a decolonized consciousness.
Nature as a Canvas: The Grafted Mango Tree
-
Hybrid heritage: The grafted mango tree, bearing many varieties of fruit, symbolizes the complex racial and cultural mixture of Jamaica—African, British, Indian, and Carib.
-
Cultural contradictions: The diversity of mangoes encourages the Jamaican people to move beyond the divisive legacies of colonialism.
-
Ignored richness: Despite Jamaica's natural abundance, Cliff notes that similar fruits are sold at high prices abroad, implying that Jamaicans may undervalue their own hybrid heritage.
-
Colonial ruination: "Wild Jamaican nature" reclaims and transforms colonial structures, challenging the hierarchical elevation of English culture over Caribbean reality.
Color and Social Hierarchy
-
Fear of darkness: Darkness is feared among the upper and middle classes, reflecting internalized prejudice and a societal rejection of Blackness.
-
Color as social status: Lighter skin, like Clare's, brings privilege and opportunity; darker skin is associated with poverty and lower status.
-
Clare's confusion: As a light-skinned, mixed-race girl, Clare navigates these hierarchies without fully understanding her own position. Her father's insistence on "turning the green eyes blue" exemplifies the pressure to conform to whiteness.
Domestic and Historical Spaces
-
The great house: Colonial homes symbolize English culture and order but are "ruined" by wild Jamaican nature, reflecting the tension between imposed hierarchy and local reality.
-
The salt taste of the past: Plantation walls carry the violent history of slavery, making the past tangible and haunting the present.
-
The conch shell: The Abeng, used to summon slaves and by Maroons for rebellion, embodies both oppression and resistance, highlighting the novel’s reclamation of Jamaican history.
Clothing and Nakedness
-
Modesty and imitation: Heavy, restrictive clothing, especially in the humid climate, symbolizes European and Christian customs, moral authority, and the adoption of white culture.
-
Denial of intimacy: Constantly covered women reflect emotional distance and the psychological burden of inherited trauma.
-
Nakedness as primitive: Western colonial views equate nakedness with perceived savagery and blackness, reinforcing racial hierarchies and fear.
