The Whiteness of Bones (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Susanna Moore
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The 1970’s and the 1980’s
- Setting: Hawaii and New York City
- Principal Characters: Mary Wilding (Mamie) Clarke, McCully Clarke, Mary Clarke, Claire Clarke, Alice (Alysse), Hiroshi, Gertrude, Alder Stoddard
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: Girls, Maturation or coming of age, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Adolescence, Nature, New York City, Farms, farmers, or farming, Adultery, Islands, Japan or Japanese people
- Locales: New York, NY, Hawaii
The Whiteness of Bones begins with a slight incident which forces the twelve-year-old protagonist, Mary Wilding “Mamie” Clarke, into the quest which will occupy the next ten years of her life. Up to that time, the sugar plantation on the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i, where Mamie lives with her parents and her sister, has seemed to be a paradise. The easy sexuality of the Filipinos and the Hawaiians has a kind of innocence about it which does not trouble the children. When the trusted long-time servant, Hiroshi, makes a sexual advance to Marnie, however, she reacts with shock...
[The entire page is 2049 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
