In Nalo Hopkinson’s “Shift”, the audience sees the perspectives of Caliban and Ariel and how, even though related, have very different views of the world. Caliban seems to have abandoned his mothers and sisters native ways and now finds safety and comfort in shifting his personality to the likes of the people he is around. Ariel still holds onto her mothers perspective of the world and scolds Caliban for abandoning that perspective and for continuously shifting his personality. Hopkinson is able to use the foil of a brother and sister relationship to highlight how different points of views foster different perspectives of race.
Michael Powers