He had turned into an extraordinarily handsome man (212).For the first time in her life Mala felt like a woman, a feeling both thrilling and frightening. and of herself as the lady who would one day be rescued by him and revealed to all the world as a princess stolen by the commoners at birth (226).Īmbrose E. Looking forward his visits gave her the strength to endure her father’s night-time attacks (226).

She was pleased she had saved some back for Ambrose (222-223). The stew was indeed well seasoned, perhaps the best she had ever cooked. The taste of garlic and anise erased his smell. She slipped her tongue out of her mouth and licked the stew on her face. Thinking of Ambrose makes her endure the painful life.

She remember the frangipani was in unusually full bloom these days. left a note of his visit in the form of a stolen stalk of frangipani.

Because of Ambrose, Mala sees hopes and bright side of life.

Thus the fact that much of the story takes place in a garden in the town of Paradise, with parks named such things as El Dorado, suggests a novel that is more allegorical in nature-a commentary on European exploration narratives and the role of science and botany in empire (Casteel 2003, 19, 22), a reflection on the politics of sexuality, and an analysis of exile, displacement, and diaspora.

May 107).Īt the same time, by naming the town Paradise, and focusing much of thenovel on the main character Mala’s walled garden within Paradise, Mootoois clearly toying with cliches of the Caribbean as a lost Eden, a pastoral idyll (Vivian M.

In setting the novel on a fictional, nonspecific Caribbean island,rather than on Trinidad where she grew up, Mootoo follows in the footsteps ofother Caribbean women writers who have found a critical utility in crafting animaginary space from which to remember identities and histories differently (Vivian M.

Colonized by the“Shivering Northern Wetlands” (Vivian M.

Cereus Blooms at Night, Shani Mootoo’s 1996 novel, is set in the town ofParadise on the imaginary Caribbean island Lantanacamara.

Cereus Blooms at Night, published in 1996, is her first novel.

Out on Main Street, published in 1993, is a collection of short stories.

Finally acknowledging and naming her experience of abuse prompted Mootoo to return to words, and write her first collection of short stories.

A skilled multimedia artist and filmmaker.

born in Ireland in 1958 and raised in Trinidad.

Flashback: Mala’s affection toward Ambrose.

Cereus blooms at night sparknotes