Mortality Quotes

How we cite our quotes:

Quote #10

Someone screamed and I thought, Why did I scream? I called "Tia!" and jumped and woke. (III.7.6)

For a fuller discussion of the ending, see "What's Up with the Ending?" But in the context of our discussion of the theme of mortality here, this passage is interesting for suggesting an up side to death. We know, we know, there's an up side? Well, look, death can be understood as a loss of selfhood, right? What if that selfhood was a mess of half-conscious racist assumptions? Maybe Antoinette's loss of self is the loss of a racist self, an enabling loss in the sense that it makes possible her full acceptance of Tia. It's a big maybe, but a maybe worth trying out…