What are the motifs in No Telephone to Heaven by Michelle Cliff?

Motherhood is a recurring idea in the book. The archetypal, multi-faceted relationship between mother and child, or perhaps more appropriately mother-FIGURE and child, is explored several times throughout the book. First, there is the relationship between Charles and his grandmother, a maternal presence in his life that physically vanishes from his life when he is young and impressionable, but remains in the form of the torn handkerchief.