Racism

Both the action of the narrative (the plot) and the journey of transformation of its central characters (Clare and Charles) are defined and motivated by experiences of racism - specifically, the negative attitudes of whites towards blacks, and the resulting internalization of those attitudes by blacks towards themselves. There is the sense throughout the book that the author is portraying Jamaica, with all its economic and social troubles, as having gotten to that place as a result of systematic and lasting exploitation by whites. Then, when Boy Savage emigrates with his family from Jamaica to America, it is with the hope that the so-called American Dream of freedom and equality for all will extend to his race. He and the rest of his family, however, soon discover the futility of that hope, realizing that racism is both more apparent and more overt in America.

They respond in different...