Abeng Literary Elements

Historical, semi-autobiographical novel

Jamaica, 1958, fourteen years since WWII, the effects of which still linger in society

Third-person point of view following Clare Savage, a young girl of mixed race who must figure out her place in the world.

Sparse, reminiscent, serious

Protagonist: Clare Savage, a twelve-year-old girl of mixed race, born to a white father and a Jamaican mother; she must find her place in the harsh and confusing world and understand the nature of oppression, the agents of which being the only antagonists in the novel.

Clare must come to terms with her identity as a descendent of both white men and Jamaicans, despite her present middle-class social conditions. She goes on a mission to discover the truth about her identity and the history of oppressed people groups.

The novel climaxes with Clare's realization that her mother's reticence to talk about her heritage was out of a desire to spare Clare the hardship of victimization, but also that in reality, there have been many examples of people who have stood up to oppression, as she learns from her grandmother's stories about slavery.

The second paragraph of the novel is this: "This is a book about the time which followed on that time. As the island became a place where people lived. Indians. Africans. Europeans." (3)

This paragraph foreshadows the rest of the novel – both its recounting of Jamaican history and the attempted reconciliation between many different people groups in the mind of Clare Savage.

"High July – and hot." (3)

The book alludes to many Biblical passages, tropes, and traditions. It also references a wide variety of historical events and works of literature, such as the diary of Anne Frank, the Holocaust, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the British invasion of the Caribbean, and the War of the Maroons.

Clare has both white and black cultural heritage, and most of this novel is about her struggle to reconcile these dramatically different elements. Accordingly, most of the novel's imagery relates to ethnicity and cultural history, especially considering its setting in Jamaica.

Clare realizes the paradox of perspective: every personal account is tinged with bias, and it's difficult to reach an objective understanding of a historical event despite extensive chronicling.

Clare finds that the oppression of the Jamaican community parallels that of the oppression of the LGBTQ people as well. Both groups hold much of Clare's focus, and she eventually realizes the commonalities between them.

"A belief in their eventual redemption. In the balm of Gilead." (12)

"In the light, spots of dust floated around the room" (13).

It gives the dust particles a feeling of life and agency by personifying them. The idea that the dust "floated around" as though it were moving purposefully or on purpose changes the ordinary and usually disregarded dust particles into lively, even humorous objects inside the room. Through personification, the dust is given a fragile, fleeting character that emphasizes its presence and produces a visual impact that alludes to a subdued, almost magical interaction between light and movement in the space. The scene's dust transforms into a soft, dynamic element that gently alters the mood and invites readers to take note of the little, overlooked aspects of their environment.