Monday, February 16, 2009
Shani Mootoo
Trish asked at the end of the class if we came out of the reading with any questions. Having thought about it, I'm wondering if there is significance in titling the book after an accusatory invention? "He drown she in the sea" is what the maid says about her boss being implicated in the death of Rose. What does this say about the nature of perception? The economy of what is allowed to be said, what is ignored, what is relevant, what is true? And how all of these things relate elements like gender, class, and race?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"One realizes when the story has been read that Mootoo’s title, He Drown She in the Sea, refers
ReplyDeleteto a particular form of unofficial history, history from below, which is not corroborated by the story
to which the reader has access. This is a multivalent title. It invokes a form of male/female violence
with which readers are only too familiar. As a result, it provides a version of history that seems
readily believable to most. At the level of the plot, this statement records what most people believe
has been Rose’s fate, although none will state it publicly for fear of reprisal. Yet because it circulates
unofficially, it functions as an alibi enabling the novel’s utopic conclusion some possibility. As long
as official and unofficial society believe this version of events, then Rose and Harry are able to sail
to freedom below the radar of official surveillance. Metaphorically, through its invocation of a
transmarine imaginary, the title asks us to reconsider the stereotypical understanding of what this
phrase might mean. It suggests that through their love for each other, both Harry and Rose are able
to transform themselves and their understanding of the possibilities before them, through their
willingness to undergo a sea-change in their thinking. "
Brydon, Diana. “‘A Place on the Map of the World’: Locating Hope in Shani Mootoo’s He Drown She in the Sea and Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For”. MaComere, Jan, 2007.
http://myuminfo.umanitoba.ca/Documents/838/LocatingHope.pdf