Lust and its Negative Consequences

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Recommended: Slavery in the Caribbean

Antoinette’s relationship with Tia represents several values for her. Their relationship embodies several racial metaphors. Tia is the symbol of the person Antoinette greatly desires to be but never could. She embodies the black character that is free from alienation that is accepted by her community, unlike Antoinette who is neither black nor white. She struggles to decipher her own identity. The novel opens with the portrayal of the Cosways’ ruin after the emancipation, due to the fact that they formerly owned black slaves. They call them white cockroaches ‘I never looked at any strange negro. They hated us. They called us white cockroaches’ (Pt1 Pg 9). They do however find security with some of the blacks, namely the ones that are not from Jamaican decent, such as Christophine and Tia. Antoinette not only finds herself in the hatred of the black community but also the new English Colonists reject them due to their long intimacy with blacks and due to the fact that they are ‘Creole’ and not English labeling them ‘white niggers’. Therefore Tia represent a girl of approximately Antoinette’s age, someone she can relate to, that is black and therefore has the privilege of being accepted into society. She was strong unlike Antoinette ‘sharp stones did not hurt her feet, I never saw her cry’ (Pt1 Pg9), therefore she looked for strength, comfort and a sense of belonging with her. We learn through her actions that Tia looks at Antoinette for her money, and envies her for it, although it is clear that the Cosways no longer own a fortune. When Christophine gave Antoinette some pennies one morning ‘they shone like gold in the sun and Tia stared.’ (Pt1 Pg 9) Her staring obviously shows her desire so she bets her to do a somersault in the ... ... middle of paper ... ...d to be and when I hesitated she laughed. I heard her say,’ ‘You frightened’... I called ‘Tia!’ and I jumped and woke’. (Pt3 Pg124) She again was easily ordered by Tia, parallel to earlier in the novel when she tried to do the somersault in the water to impress her. This suggests that all through her life, her desire to become like Tia was a driving force and she saw her in herself because that’s what she wanted to become. Antoinette and Tia's friendship was based on something they both wanted from each other. They were very close, almost like sisters, to the point that Antoinette saw herself in Tia and saw Tia as her driving force. Antoinette desired severely to be like Tia to break out of the cage of abandonment, whereas Tia also wanted money. There were both selfless and selfish motives behind their friendship but their conflicts are possibly quite inevitable.

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