Random
Themes
Literary Devices
Symbols
100

What was the name of the convent Antoinette was in?

Calvery Convery, Spanish Town, Jamaica,1839

100

Name one theme and explain

Otherness and Alienation

Slavery and Freedom- The members of the Couliburi community were exslaves and the novel is set in a post- emancipation Jamaica

 Madness and the construction of “Madness”- Antoinette’s mother, Annette went mad 

100

Give two examples of  visual imagery

Imagery

Visual

  • “The house was burning, the yellow-red sky was like sunset and I knew that I would never see Coulibri again” 
  • “Nothing would be left, the golden ferns and the silver ferns, the orchids, the ginger lilies and the roses, the rocking-chairs and the blue sofa, the jasmine and the honeysuckle, and the picture of the Miller’s Daughter.”
  • “His hair was crinkled, a negro’s hair, but bright red, and his eyebrows and eyelashes were red.”
100

What does fire represent?

Fire-  Fire is the ultimate destructive and redemptive force in the novel. The fire at Coulibri is an act of retribution and defiance on the part of the nearby black community, but it destroys the life that Antoinette has known as a child. Both Coco the parrot and the moths that fly into the flames of candles throughout Antoinette’s and the husband’s honeymoon foreshadow Antoinette’s own fiery suicide, through which she finally gains freedom at the end of the novel. 

300

Explain the theme of loss and displacement

Loss and Displacement- The fire destroys everything Antoinette has come to love in Couliburi

“I knew that I would never see Coulibri again. Nothing would be left, the golden ferns and the silver ferns, the orchids, the ginger lilies and the roses, the rocking-chairs and the blue sofa, the jasmine and the honeysuckle, and the picture of the Miller’s Daughter. 

300

Give an example of simile 

  • “He had a white skin, a dull ugly white covered with freckles, his mouth was a negro’s mouth and he had small eyes, like bits of green glass.”
  • “She have eyes like zombie and you have eyes like zombie too.”
300

What does Clothing and Hair represent?

Clothing and Hair- The state of women’s dresses and hair represents their desirability as well as their agency in the novel. When Tia and Antoinette’s fall out early on in the novel, Tia humiliates Antoinette by stealing her dress. Annette’s effort to lift the family out of destitution begins with the making of new dresses for herself and Antoinette. When Antoinette wakes from her fever, she knows that she has been ill and a great change has occurred because she sees that her hair has been cut. Louise de Plana, the ultimate ideal female in the novel, is constantly dressed in white, and has hair that Antoinette tries and fails to emulate

400

What were the names of the De plana Sisters?

Louise, Helene, Germaine

500

Give an example of irony

  • “We are all quite safe.’ Just for a moment I shut my eyes and rested my head against her shoulder. She smelled of vanilla, I remember. Then there was another smell, of burned hair...” -Aunt Cora assures Antoinette that she is safe moments before the house burns down 
M
e
n
u