"Jews were expected to suffer. To endure. It was a fate which had been meted out to them because of their recalcitrance in belief, their devotion to their own difference. Their suffering was at once governed by the white Christian world, and when it seemed excessive, then it was tempered by the white Christian conscience. Unless, of course, it got out of hand and what her teachers called a 'madman' came to power and the 'good' people didn't see that he had gone too far until it was too late."
When Clare asks her teachers about the Holocaust, she is met with disregard and aversion. They finally respond by blaming the Jews for their fate. They say that because the Jewish people stubbornly and loudly proclaimed their heritage and their religion, they brought it upon themselves. Essentially, the good Christians didn't feel remorse for any prejudice they showed the Jews. They didn't notice Hitler's extremism until after he'd already murdered millions of people. Clare is not persuaded by this victim-shaming mentality.
"I sometimes feel that Jews were put on this earth only to put people like me in difficult positions."
Clare is unsatisfied with her teachers' response to her questions about the Holocaust, so she asks her father his opinion. After repeating her teachers' bland and shameful opinions, he then makes himself out to be a victim. He thinks that the Holocaust is personally inconvenient and places him in an uncomfortable position to answer questions. He feels no shame, but he doesn't want to talk about it all the same.
"In the beginning there had been two sisters -- Nanny and Sekesu. Nanny fled slavery. Sekesu remained a slave. Some said this was the difference between the sister.
It was believed that all island children were descended from one or the other."
Clare's grandma tells her the stories of her people during her stay in Jamaica. This theme of cultural heritage and local lore is central throughout the novel. These stories help Clare to understand her current position in society and to develop her budding identity.
"All the forces which worked to keep these people slaves now worked to keep them poor."
Clare's grandma makes the point here that the abolishment of slavery didn't change much for the black natives of Jamaica. Even though they weren't slaves any longer, they still faced the same prejudice. The bottom line is that a law will not change the hearts of the people.
"Kitty had a sense of Jamaica that her husband would never have."
Kitty is a black woman. Having grown up amidst the colonial oppression of Jamaica, Kitty lived a dramatically different life than her privileged white husband. He could never understand what actual discrimination feels like. In this way, she is closer to the island than her husband.
Boy taught his eldest daughter that she came from his people white people, he stressed and he expected Clare to preserve his green eyes and light skin those things she had born with.
Boy Savage emphasizes his background. As a descendant of a slave owner, he championed white Supremacy and wants his daughter to keep this legacy. Boy incites his daughter to keep the white allure.
“My grandmother’s voice is the voice of the land, the voice of the people who have always been here.”
It represents the close ties that exist between individual ancestry and societal history. It implies that the voice of Clare's grandmother stands for both the enduring cultural and historical legacy of the region and its people, as well as familial wisdom. Clare recognizes how ancestors' knowledge and experiences are woven into the very fabric of the country by connecting her grandmother's voice to it. This reflects the community's tenacity and ongoing presence despite past upheavals. This link emphasizes how closely linked cultural and historical continuity are to individual identity.
