The Past

Via Sil's first person narration, the novel explores the ways in which access to the past grants the individual knowledge and understanding. For 11-year-old Sil, the past is a mysterious realm to which her mother has never granted her access. When they arrive in Island CIty, one of Sil’s mother’s primary rules is never to discuss where they came from or to speak in their native language, Ours. Sil has therefore learned to regard her personal, familial, and cultural past as “a forbidden room, briefly glimpsed as [her] mother [is] shutting its door” (31). By way of contrast, her aunt Ena holds “the door wide” (31). Ena not only has mementos of her own past littered around her apartment, but allows Sil to linger in the metaphoric room of their family’s past “as long as [she] like[s]” (31). Once Sil starts to learn about...