STORY

SUMMARY

TRAN SA CTI ONS

Michelle Cliff

Transactions
In the intricate "Transactions" a light- skinned,
thoroughly Americanized Jamaican salesman
simply purchases a daughter for himself.

Significance of the Title

Transaction: The act of conducting or carrying
out business negotiations/plans resulting in a
deal or business agreement.
The title signifies the holistic theme of
transactions throughout the story. Harold treats
his life and the world around him like a business
deal.
Transactions seen throughout the story:
1. He is a business man whose job mainly deals
with transactions, i.e. delivering goods.
2. Buys German girl for 20$
3. Giving the girl fruits for silence
4. Offering his wife and Mr Dickens half of the
house if she allows him to adopt.
5. Gives shopkeeper magazines for a room.

Michelle Cliff is a Jamaican American poet and

novelist. Her work deals with issues of racism,
colonialism and identity (being that she dealt with
issues of identity in her own life, being born into
a mulatto family.)
She was a lesbian. Her partner was American
poet, essayist and radical feminist Adrienne Rich.

Character
. The Salesman/Busha/Harold Sells
American goods, not from America himself
his car is American and he has an American
occupation. He is a travelling salesman His
car parked with American goods.
The salesman has always wanted a child
The salesman is not Catholic he has
obviously put great thought into this
transaction. He is fantasising about the ideal
situation
Everything is commerce he cannot live

Harolds Habitus
Harolds habitus (how he
perceives the world around him)
- Everything is commerce he
cannot live without it

Linkages to the story and colonization

The notion of a light skinned male
purchasing another individual who they
determine is in need of becoming a
trained civilian and treats as a product,
alludes to colonization and white men
purchasing slaves. Furthermore,
highlights a man placing limited value
to human life i.e. paying 20$ for a girl.
He was suddenly afraid he has
purchased damaged goods Reminiscent
of a slave owner complaining.

Cliff's agenda seeks to reverse

precisely this current habitus,
revealing thereby the history
embedded in the nature of her
characters and the landscape
they inhabit(Mohan) by
addressing issues like this in her
literary works, she attempts to
bring to forefront the way some
men in society think.

In the intricate "Transactions, a lightskinned, thoroughly Americanized

Jamaican salesman simply purchases a
daughter for himself. Though the
salesman winds up feeling "like a thief,
not the saviour he preferred," the reader
can't help reflecting on other pale men
who once routinely made human
purchases, or on how easily the formerly
oppressed can slip into the roles of their
oppressors.(Stephens)

Cliff is politically interested in

investigation into the past,
especially into the workings of
patriarchal power and its regime
of heterosexuality (Mohan)

This seems like a pattern in Cliffs

work as she usually addresses
issues associated with race gender
and post-colonialism in her works.

without it (omniscient narrator)

Now he thinks hell never be lonely again
implies that he was lonely despite being
married and sees his new daughter as a relief
from his loneliness.