{"id":2078,"date":"2022-10-27T19:50:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T23:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/?p=2078"},"modified":"2022-10-27T19:50:51","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T23:50:51","slug":"cereus-blooms-at-night-and-language-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/2022\/10\/27\/cereus-blooms-at-night-and-language-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Cereus Blooms at Night and Language Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout the novel<\/span> Cereus Blooms at Night<\/span><\/i> by Shani Mootoo, language is a source of control and autonomy for the main character Mala. This reflects the author’s deliberate word and language choices throughout the book to develop the characters identity in different ways.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The author uses language as a tool of developing identity. When Ambrose\u2019s wife leaves him, he corrects her writing. His view and use of language, which he used a lot with Mala and barely ever used with his current wife because he was asleep most of the time, show his attitudes towards the two of them. I took Mala\u2019s control and limited use of language as a way for her to have control over an aspect of her life. Malas upbringing, from being left behind by her mother to the extensive rape from her father she had to battle, has left her no room for control in her life. Her father controls where she goes and what she cooks, and Mala has to obey due to his violence. Once he is gone and Mala is on her own, she can take control of herself and identity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The author says \u201cMala gives up verbal language, while I use verbal language to detail her trauma and her triumph. To my mind, her abandonment of this language and my use of it are only different sides of the very same coin.\u201d (Mootoo, 111). This further shows the sense of control Mala has over herself now, she can control what she tells Tyler, her life is no longer someone else’s. Mootoo uses specific words to show the relationships and identities of characters. I saw this in the discussion of Mala\u2019s father, \u201cPohpoh was what her father had lovingly called her since she was a baby\u2026but when Chandin Ramchandin started touching her in ways that terrified and hurt her\u2026\u201d (Mootoo, 200). When talking about the past and their father daughter relationship, the author uses the titles \u201cPoh Poh\u201d and \u201cfather\u201d, but when talking about the brutality, the author says \u201cChandin Ramchandin” and \u201cMala”, which is what PohPoh changed her name too because Mala reminded her too much of her fathers actions towards her.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout the novel Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo, language is a source of control and autonomy for the main character Mala. This reflects the author’s deliberate word and language choices throughout the book to develop the characters identity in different ways.\u00a0 The author uses language as a tool of developing identity. When Ambrose\u2019s … Continue reading Cereus Blooms at Night and Language Use<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5016,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169404],"tags":[93556,10933],"class_list":["post-2078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2022-blog-post","tag-cereus-blooms-at-night","tag-language"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5016"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}