Plot Summery of No Telephone To Heaven

In the powerful and gripping novel No Telephone To Heaven, Michelle Cliff, a Jamaican- American, navigates her audience through the life of Claire Saving, providing a broad look into various race and gender issues. Beginning with graphic descriptions of the Dungle in Jamaica (Jamaican slums), Cliff sets the scene for the rest of the novel but immediately comparing extreme poverty with resortish tourism and pale skinned Jamaicans. After weaving between the extremes of Jamaican economy, Cliff introduced a pale skinned, upper class Jamaican family, the Savages. During this part of the novel, Claire’s mother, Kitty, brings character conflict. Although they live a good life in Jamaica, the Savages’ flee to the United States to find a better life free of all racism and segregation. Taking place in the 1950’s, the America they encountered was filled to the brim with racism and segregation. Eventually, the racism drives Kitty out of New York and back to Jamaica, taking the younger and darker skinner daughter with her and leaving her husband and the lightest member of the family, Claire. Jumping forward until Claire Savage is a brilliant student studying Italian Renaissance Art in England (a very white thing to do), Kitty eventually dies from old age and Claire returns to Jamaica for the funeral. Here, Claire reunites with her African heritage. Nonetheless, she decides to return to Europe and finish her studies. Living a split life between her Jamaican roots and her pale skin/European education allows the audience to see racism and segregation at its worst. Claire refuses to commit to Jamaica because she knows that her pale skin in Europe can help her become extremely successful. Finally, Cliff proves to her reader that segregation occurs in many parts of the world, not just America.