1. Who is your favorite character from the story and what kind of background do they come from? Why? (Use examples from Michelle Cliff's essay, If I Could Write This in Fire, I Would Write This in Fire)

Larissa was my favorite character, she came from a poor background, she was Lorraine's maid and she raised her for 10 years. She had to hide her pain like the death of her sons. And despite all the bad things she stood strong, but still, she was still oppressed by the reality of Jamaica.

2. Why do you think Lorraine’s mother mocks the workers that want independence from England?

Because she sees everything from a privileged wealthy perspective, she never had to work or give up anything in order to survive or help her family. Like Lorraine said she's petulant over things like independence claiming there will be no people available to work, according to her. 


3. What is a “pain tree” and how does it play a role in the story?

“Let us say, Lorraine, I feel a heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear, if I give the nail to the tree and ask it to take my burden from me, is so it go. Then I get relief.” “So you one put all those nails in the tree?”

The pain tree was basically a Jamaican belief that if you had sorrow, you could give your pain to the tree by hammering nails on it. Larissa bears tremendous pain because of the death of her sons and the gruesome reality of poor Jamaican workers.


4. What is the meaning of the line “people like me would always inherit the land, but they were the ones who already possessed the Earth”?

I personally think that it means that even tho you can inherit the land, like Lorraine did, there is no true owner, the land is from the people, and in this case, the land belongs to the poor Jamaican people. Also, the pain tree, in my honest opinion, could be a sign of a stronger connection with the Earth and nature than those of the wealthy people.