e had told this group of churchgoers that "of all the slave societies in the New World, Jamaica was considered the most brutal" (Cliff, 1995, 18). Cliff draws the implication that the brutality which these early Africans experienced in Jamaica has influenced the anger and lethargy exhibited by their later generations. No one tells the congregation of the Tabernacle that their ancestors were forced to wear tin masks so they would not eat the sugar cane as they worked, but that anger still resides in their own bones (Cliff, 1995, p. 18). Not all Jamaicans tell their children of Nanny, the obeah-woman who retained the magic of the African Ashanti tribe and successfully resisted capture by their tormenters for nearly a century. Yet her bravery and prowess also lingers within her descendants (Cliff, 1995, p. 14). Systems theory would suggest to know about this suppression of cultural roots would aid anyone helping someone like Clare come to terms with who she and her people are.
Although readers are only given a small section of time
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