DIVIDED ALLEGIANCES AND ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES

Abstract

The second chapter examines psychological transnationalism in novels by Michelle Cliff and Margaret Cezair-Thompson. As the works illustrate, psychological exile is an essential part of the migratory experience; growing up with divided allegiances, each cognizant of their difference at every turn, the protagonists, Jean and Clare, are primed for flight. The authors highlight the effects of personal violence and advance alternative histories that have been lost in contemporary Jamaica. In Abeng and The True History of Paradise, migration is provoked by circumstances that render the homeland unsafe or unbearable; violence and interpersonal conflict operate as precursors to the female characters’ immigration. Together, the works query the degree to which one can fully “depart” one’s homeland.