Abeng

This chapter goes into more detail about Clare’s family. During the summer, she lives with her maternal grandmother while her younger sister goes to another relative. Even though her parents live together, they often have loud and bitter arguments. Boy is never physically violent, but he often repeats “I won’t kill your mother—not tonight,” which makes Clare worried that he might forget to say it some day and Kitty will die (51). 

Clare’s parents have very different upbringings and personalities, exemplified by their respective attitudes toward town and country. Boy is a city man, while Kitty likes the countryside. She “came alive only in the bush” (49), while Boy “armed himself against it, carrying newspapers, books, and liquor.” Kitty is emotionally unavailable to her children because she did not have an affectionate relationship with her parents. She seems to direct all her passion towards Boy and their shouting arguments. Even when Kitty takes Clare with her to the bush and passes down her knowledge of herbs and other folklore, she is distant and does not show physical affection. While Clare tells herself it is enough that the two of them are together, she sometimes fantasizes about being a baby in her mother’s arms and nursing at her breast the way she sees women nursing their young children on the side of the road.