The Pain Tree Short Story Review
1.- Who is your favorite character from the story and what kind of background do they come from? Why? (Use examples from Michelle Cliff's essay, If I Could Write This in Fire, I Would Write This in Fire)
I have two favorite characters. In first place i choose Larissa. She is a black woman that works for white people in Jamaica, as a slave. Her roots are poor and she is a very humble woman, as described. In second place I choose Lorraine. She is a white girl that comes from a rich family, that owns lands and slaves. I choose them because they are the opposite, in an apartheid society that separates people by the color of their skin. But at the same time they represent that race is not an important issue in social relations. We can make a clear comparison between the Pain Tree story and Michelle Cliff's essay. We can relate Lorraine with Michelle and Larissa with Zoe. Lorraine and Michelle share the same family roots, white land owners that had relations with England and the United States. Zoe and Larissa come from poor family's that strive to make money to survive in a society that's not just with them.
2.-Why do you think Lorraine’s mother mocks the workers that want independence from England?
I think Lorraine's mom mocks them because she is afraid to lose the power she has. If Jamaica gets independence, the white folk, owners of the land, will see their land and possessions threatened by a new government, that would take decisions that may no longer be in the line of the land owners and the rich ones.
3.- What is a “pain tree” and how does it play a role in the story?
It is a tree were people hammers a nail with a rock, in order to ask the tree to take their pain out and make the worries stop for the one thats asking. It plays a very important role, because it is a representation of the differences in jamaican social classes. Larissa's only hope to stop the pain is to ask the tree for help, to stop her pain. In the other way, Lorraine never had to draw upon the tree's help, because she never felt a pain so big, or suffered like Larissa did.
4.- What is the meaning of the line “people like me would always inherit the land, but they were the ones who already possessed the Earth”?
I think this frase means that white people and land owners would always be the owners of the land, because they "inherited" it with money and family feuds, but the ones that really cared about the land and the earth, because they understand the value of it, far from it's capitalist view. They benefit from the earth to take their pain away, to feed them, and many other things that are crucial in life.
I have two favorite characters. In first place i choose Larissa. She is a black woman that works for white people in Jamaica, as a slave. Her roots are poor and she is a very humble woman, as described. In second place I choose Lorraine. She is a white girl that comes from a rich family, that owns lands and slaves. I choose them because they are the opposite, in an apartheid society that separates people by the color of their skin. But at the same time they represent that race is not an important issue in social relations. We can make a clear comparison between the Pain Tree story and Michelle Cliff's essay. We can relate Lorraine with Michelle and Larissa with Zoe. Lorraine and Michelle share the same family roots, white land owners that had relations with England and the United States. Zoe and Larissa come from poor family's that strive to make money to survive in a society that's not just with them.
2.-Why do you think Lorraine’s mother mocks the workers that want independence from England?
I think Lorraine's mom mocks them because she is afraid to lose the power she has. If Jamaica gets independence, the white folk, owners of the land, will see their land and possessions threatened by a new government, that would take decisions that may no longer be in the line of the land owners and the rich ones.
3.- What is a “pain tree” and how does it play a role in the story?
It is a tree were people hammers a nail with a rock, in order to ask the tree to take their pain out and make the worries stop for the one thats asking. It plays a very important role, because it is a representation of the differences in jamaican social classes. Larissa's only hope to stop the pain is to ask the tree for help, to stop her pain. In the other way, Lorraine never had to draw upon the tree's help, because she never felt a pain so big, or suffered like Larissa did.
4.- What is the meaning of the line “people like me would always inherit the land, but they were the ones who already possessed the Earth”?
I think this frase means that white people and land owners would always be the owners of the land, because they "inherited" it with money and family feuds, but the ones that really cared about the land and the earth, because they understand the value of it, far from it's capitalist view. They benefit from the earth to take their pain away, to feed them, and many other things that are crucial in life.
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