“I” – pronouns in Shift

Allison S Curseen73 Comments

In Nalo Hopkinson’s short story “Shift”, She uses pronouns as a way to express the idea that Caliban does not truly know who he is.  When referring to Caliban, she always refers to him as “you” regardless of who is speaking.  This only changes in the last sentence of the story when she says, “You turn to look at your mother and sister. “I”, you say.”  By only referring to caliban as “you” throughout the entire story, but then allowing him to finally refer to himself as “I” at the end of the story, the pronouns represent a shift in how Caliban thinks about himself, and show that his experience with his love interest in this story has in some way given him hope to establish his own identity.  During Caliban’s final conversation with his girlfriend when she figures out the situation with his mother and sister, Caliban is “Shocked” when she asks him “Who do you think you are?”  The Golden Girl has clearly surprised the entire family with what seems like a simple question, but their reactions show it to be a major shift in how these characters think about themselves.  It is only after this conversation that he finally says “I” to his mother and sister.  By leaving this one word statement as the last event in the story, Hopkinson emphasizes the importance of Caliban finally using the pronoun “I” to refer to himself.

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