The cultural significance of language: Avey’s inability to speak Patois widens the barrier between her and the out-islanders going on the excursion. The cab driver asserts that those venturing to Carriacou only talk in the Creole dialect one weekend a year and the rest of the time speak in the “King’s English” (76). The language, despite being virtually useless in the daily lives of the out-islanders, enforces the deep ties they have to their ancestral past. Avey’s lack of comprehension in Patois ultimately magnifies her cultural ineptness and her isolation from those around her. However friendly the out-islanders may be, shefeels uncomfortable and awkward around them as their cultural traditions, traditions that should be hers as well, only confuse her.
Dance : Throughout the novel, dancing becomes a spiritually freeing act for Avey. Not only does Avey recall meeting her late husband at a dance, but also reminisces with great fondness about the nights the couple spent unwinding from their long days by dancing in their apartment on Halsey Street. On these nights, she recollects feeling“centered and sustained… restored to her proper axis” (254). Dance clearly plays an important part in her life even before her journey to Carriacou as Avey uses it to temporarily forget her daily troubles and place things into perspective.
Materialism and the loss of identity: Both Avey and Jay fall victim to the pitfalls of financial success. Their happiness suffers at the price of material fulfillment, as Jay regards their“[l]ove like a burden he want[s] to get rid of” (129). In the midst of the 120.........-year struggle to escape from the poverty on Halsey Street, his and Avey’s romantic relationship dissolves and their emotional detachment increases. Although Jay gives Avey all of the worldly comforts afforded to the upper-middle class, he neglects her sexual needs and companionship. Ultimately, Jay’s work and determination to leave their Brooklyn neighborhood consumes his person, allowing him and Avey little time to rekindle their lost love.
The dream Avey has at the beginning of the book that compels her to cut her cruise short further captures the perils of living a shallow, object-oriented life. Instead of venturing to the Ibo Landing with her Great Aunt Cuney like she did as a child, Avey, dressed in a new suit and fine mink, scoffs at the prospect and violently retaliates against her Aunt when she persists on taking Avey as a grown woman. As the passion in her marriage disintegrates, so too does her connection with the spiritual world. The dream reflects her inability to understand the importance of her ancestry as a consequence of the high value she places on superfluous goods. Despite her immense sacrifice to eke out a better life for her and her family, Avey gradually loses herself and her priorities in the process.
The Middle Passage: During Avey's boat ride from Grenada to Carriacou, she slips into a dream about the middle passage, one her ancestors may have taken long ago. Through the remembrance of the past hardships of the slaves, Avey is able to alleviate her own, more temporary suffering aboard the ship: "Their suffering- the depth of it, the weight if it in the cramped space- made hers of no consequence." (209) Avey would have learned about the middle passage, or the middle leg of African slaves' journey to the Americas, from her great-aunt Cuney. As a child, Cuney showed Avey where the Ibos would have landed from the ships in Tatem, South Carolina, and then where they were sold after arriving. Through this insight to the past, Avey is able to gain strength that she had lacked when not remembering her African heritage.
The novel itself is split up into four different parts..0.: Runagate, Sleeper's Wake, Lave Tete, and The Beg Pardon. These names refer to the events chronicled in these chapters. Runagate refers to Avey Johnson's breaking away from the other members of her cruise ship party and heading to the island of Grenada. In Sleeper's Wake, Avey recalls during her tear-sodden dreams the memories of her late husband. Lave Tete makes reference to the actual washing and cleansing of Avey Johnson in the text, as well as a sort of spiritual renewal which accompanies it. In the Beg Pardon, Avey Johnson is able to come to terms with her African heritage through the ritualistic dancing and music, the actual "Beg Pardon" dance, in addition to inner forgiveness for any mistakes her past memories may shown her.
The main formal consideration of the novel is its constant flashbacks to the past of Avey Johnson. Throughout the text, Avey uses the flashbacks to compare present situations to the events of her memory. For example, all the information gained about Avey and Jerome Johnson's life together is through the use of memories that come to Avey's mind as she finally mourns the loss of her late husband in the hotel room in Grenada.
The narration throughout the text comes from a third-person, omniscient only in character of Avey Johnson, where the reader is able to see into her mind, but this does not apply to the other characters in the novel. The syntax of the novel uses many dashes to draw the reader's attention to the words within the sentence, in order to write an aside to the reader. Creole and French Patois are used in the novel. To demonstrate the language barrier between the characters and the book, as well as between the reader and the story. The character of Avey Johnson is equally confused as the reader in these situations.
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