In the second portion of Abeng we get a closer look into Claires home life. Boy and Kitty, Claires parents have an explosive and not healthy marriage and relationship. In the beginning section of part 2 we see a peek of what their fights are like as well as how Claire reacts to them. She always waits for her father to say “I wouldn’t hit you, Kitty, because I might kill you. Yes, I’d kill you for true.” (pg 51) She waits for him to say this because she is sure that the day he doesn’t he will hit her and kill her. Boy doesn’t respect Kitty’s culture and beliefs either. We see this when Claire asks her mother about a funeral procession goes by in front of their car and Kitty gives an explanation and Boy brushes off her comments. In part one we see that boy is considered a smart man and he knows a lot about many things but anything he doesn’t know about he brushes it off. It makes me wonder if he doesn’t respect Kitty’s beliefs and the beliefs of people on the island because he doesn’t understand them and at this point in his life he doesn’t care to. Or it may be because he wants to stay as close to the white people as possible so anything that can tie him to Black or Jamaican people he doesn’t care to understand.
One thing I found really weird but also interesting in this section is when Claire compared herself to Anne Frank. At first I thought she was reaching but then I realized that she is 12 and 12 year olds try to find similarities to people they read about and see all the time. In my opinion Claire is trying to find her identity and her sense of self where ever she can. Even if it is in someone who she has never met before.
Gender and Lit Blog 