How we cite our quotes: Cloud 9. Caryl Churchill. Routledge, 2000.
Quote #1
"This is my family. Though far from home/ We serve the Queen wherever we may roam/ I am a father to the natives here,/ And father to my family so dear." (1.1.12-15)
Clive introduces his family by saying that, no matter where he lives in the world, the important thing is that his family stays together. Now that might sound pretty nice, but he backs that up by saying that his duty to serve the Queen also makes him a father to all the "natives" living in the area around him. And that's some racist, colonial logic going on right there. Clive's basically using his role as a father/leader within his family and extending it to give him power over all of the African people who live near him. For Churchill, it's hard to separate the power Clive has as a father from the power he claims as a white colonialist.
Quote #2
"I live for Clive. The whole aim of my life/ Is to be what he looks for in a wife. / I am a man's creation as you see / And what men want is what I want to be." (1.1.18-21)
Betty introduces herself in the opening song by saying that her only goal in life is to be the lover and wife that Clive wants her to be. She doesn't really have any sense of herself as an individual outside of her role as mother and wife. In fact, the major plot of this play will turn out to be Betty's quest to define herself as an individual with her own desires.
Quote #3
"What father wants I'd dearly like to be / I find it rather hard as you can see." (1.1.30-31)
Like his mother, poor little Edward badly wants to be the strong young man his father wants him to be. But unfortunately, that's just not who Edward is. Edward would rather spend time playing with his sister's doll than joining the school cricket team; but he's tortured by the knowledge that he's disappointing his daddy.