No Telephone to Heaven

From the beginning to the end of No Telephone to Heaven, Clare develops a complex relationship with motherhood. Her mother flees to Jamaica with her darker-skinned sister, leaving Clare with her light-skinned father in America. When her mother dies, Clare does not respond with the emotional reaction her father deems appropriate. When she becomes pregnant with Bobby’s child, Bobby responds with terror, and ultimately leaves her. She then experiences a painful miscarriage and is later denied when she attempts to adopt a child. Finally, when the leader of a revolutionary movement queries Clare, she is asked if she would kill for her “child.” Clare reflects: “Weren’t women supposed to accomplish superhuman feats when their own children were endangered? Would she? Had her own mother?” (191). Using this quote as inspiration, analyze the progression of Clare’s “motherhood” over the course of the novel. 

Throughout No Telephone to Heaven, numerous characters—finding themselves caught in an “in-between” state—proclaim their allegiance to a single, cohesive identity. When Boy moves his family to America, he chooses to “pass” as white. When Kitty’s black co-workers are fired from the laundry, she returns to Jamaica, a symbolic move that embodies her loyalty to her homeland and people of color. As Harry/Harriet becomes increasingly disturbed by sociopolitical developments in her country, she chooses to assume the fully-female identity of Harriet. What do you think Cliff is trying to communicate with these characters’ decisions to reject their “in-between” identities? 

Religion is a strong motif developed throughout No Telephone to Heaven, ranging from Yoruban traditions to different interpretations of Christianity. Considering the novel’s interest in blended “in-between” spaces, how do you interpret Christopher’s development as an alternative Christ-figure? 

Many of the characters in No Telephone to Heaven—including Christopher, Clare, Kitty, Boy, and Harry/Harriet—experience anxiety around maintaining respectability, recognizing the extreme tenuousness of their social position. Compare the ways these characters navigate this issue.

No Telephone to Heaven features a wide variety of migration (and immigration) stories, including the journeys of Clare’s aunts and uncles (to Miami and New York), her immediate family’s move to New York, her mother’s move (back to Jamaica), her sister’s moves (to Jamaica, then back to America), and her own travels between America, England, and Jamaica in search of a “homeland.” Choose two different migration stories from No Telephone to Heaven and compare the characters’ experiences. 

Via Clare’s travels through the US, England, and Jamaica, Cliff examines the evolution (and Jamaican internalization) of problematic colonial dynamics. How does the conversation between the American and British filmmakers (in the chapter “Film Noir”) illustrate colonial thought patterns? Choose 2-3 moments from Clare’s experiences in England and the US, and connect them to precise moments in this dialogue.

Throughout the novel, Cliff features interactions between local Jamaicans and tourists along with tourist-targeted marketing (such as the New York Times special excerpted on Page 200). What is Cliff trying to illustrate through the language of tourists and tourism? 

From Gone with the Wind to TV coverage of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, No Telephone to Heaven examines media images that loomed large in the American collective subconscious during the ‘60s. What do these images—and their presentation within the context of this novel—suggest about American racism? How do these media images of American racism overlap and intersect with racial dynamics in Jamaica?