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No Telephone To Heaven Analysis

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Multiple meanings can arise from the term ‘resistance’. The significance all depends on who is the character that wants to challenge/refuse particular incidents or regulations. Both Houseboy, by Ferdinand Oyono, and No Telephone to Heaven, by Michelle Cliff, have good examples that show how this particular term can be interpreted. Toundi, for example from Houseboy, unknowingly kept resisting the natural order of things in his life and community. He does not believe completely what is told to him by the whites yet knows that that is what he needs to do in order to survive. At one point he stated, “We have to believe the white man’s stories—more or less.” (Oyono 56) On the other hand Kitty and Clare, from No Telephone to Heaven, challenged the manner that their life had changed since they moved to America. When it came to Kitty, “She lived divided, straining to adjust to this place where she seemed to float, never to light, the shopkeepers of BedStuy her only relief.” (Cliff 75) Colonization and racism played major roles in the resistance that was undoubtedly seen throughout the two books. During …show more content…

For example, the change of multiple perspectives in No Telephone to Heaven helped develop a stronger impression and the first person personal narrative in Houseboy allowed the reader to put themselves as intimate collaborators of the story. Moreover, the resistance was not that obvious in Houseboy. Although the native Cameroonians, in general, resisted the French colonists the opposition mostly came from Toundi’s personal struggle. Retrospectively, in No Telephone to Heaven the reader was allowed more of a variety of perspectives within different manners of circumstances; particularly referring to the Savage family’s and Christopher’s inner struggle with resisting discrimination and social

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