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Creating a character in literature begins with the idea of their purpose, but in order to construct the character’s development a writer must give them a name. Once a name is given the character takes on many of the personality traits within the historical denotations of this name. Even if the purpose of the name is unintentional on the part of the writer, the reader subconsciously manifests an image that is constructed within the connotations of that name. Michelle Cliff in No Telephone to Heaven, very purposefully constructs the characters Boy, Kitty, and Clare Savage in the framework of their names. Cliff makes an allusion to male slaves when she names Boy. The slaves were called boy regardless of their age and this term was used to imply their inferiority. Referring to a man as a boy is another way to psychologically imbed their inferiority. Boy Savage never escapes his mentality of subordination, therefore, making his name appropriate. He will never be able to reach manhood or maturity because of his internalization of the color inferiority complex. A person cannot fully develop as a complete human being without being connected to their past. Boy’s rejection of his heritage prevents him from emotionally and intellectually growing. By refusing his past and internalizing inferiority he becomes an American slave. Boy is like the servant that gets murdered by Christopher, they both are mentally enslaved. He wants to deny his African heritage in order to avoid racism in the United States. “I am a white man. My ancestors owned sugar plantations” (Cliff 57). When becoming a white man in America, Boy “held his tongue, neither agreeing nor objecting” to the comments white men at the bar, made against “the residents of the place” (*Cliff 75). Boy, then, becomes an American slave by adopting the ideology of white superiority, therefore perpetuating racism through his indoctrination and silence. Many immigrants were encouraged and felt forced to assimilate as Boy did, but Kitty Savage refuses to do so.
Approximate Word count = 1300
Approximate Pages = 5.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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