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)
I think my favourite character is Larissa. Maybe she's gonna be the favourite character of all of us, but it's because of how well she is describe in the story. She comes from a very working class backround, very poor from what you can read in the story. I like it because she reminded me of my grandma who was also a maid (or nanny). I think you can relate this to Michelle Cliff's essay as the way she describes the life that maid's have. They make a bond with each other wich is very beautiful but is is still a estructure were one has more power above other.
2. Why do you think Lorraine’s mother mocks the workers that want independence from England?
I think she mocks them because the independence from England is not convinient for her. She sees things in a way because she is well positioned in society but for working people the reality is different, they didn't experience the same situations so the idea of indepence represents faith for the people who didn't have much in the times Lorraine's mother did.
3. What is a “pain tree” and how does it play a role in the story?
The Pain Tree is a tree that people uses to "relief" their pain. In this case is a cedar tree but in the story says it can be any tree. People use this when they are in pain, so they pick up a nail and with the help of a stone they hammered in and pray, so like that the tree can take their pain away.
It is a very important part of the story because you can see how the belief's of working class people come around as an alternative to deal with feelings that, because of all the hours of work, are difficult to manage. There's a part where the main character gets frustated because it doesn't work for her, but that is just the representation of how things work when you don't believe in them, maybe because they, as welthy people, have other material alternatives to relief their sorrows.
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”?
She's talking about how people with money can have material things, is easy for them and almost given (as she says, they just inherit land), but ther are somethings that not even that kind of material power can posses, that is the dreams, and hope, and pain, and prayers that other people, in an anonymus way, make in this world, this are the poeple who truly possess the Earth.
