Michelle Cliff's "Columba"

To say it right off the bat, this story made me sad for the young boy, Columba, and the young girl in the short story. As I read, I felt that both of the younger children were being deprived of their childhood and never really had a chance to have fun and enjoy their lives. I understand that this story was set in a time period very different from that of today, but still, I felt sorry for both of the children. The young girl, because she was left under the care of her "hypo-condriacal aunt and her Cuban lover, a radio operator" I felt that she did not get the care, love, and attention that she deserves as a young girl of 12 years old. The girls Aunt Charlotte. who was described very vividly by the narrator (the young girl) makes me uneasy and I do not like her at all. Similar to the character of the young girl, the character of Columba, the young slave boy to Aunt Charlotte, is also deprived of a childhood. Being an African American boy growing up in the time period that this story is set, Columba is forced to live under a strict set of guidelines and standards. I feel pain for this character because of this...

One thing I really love about this story is the imagery in the name Columba. I thought it was great that the author named "a black boy after a white bird" and then had the death of his "childhood" or "innocence" (in a sense) die with the death of the white birds (the doves). I thought that this really tied the story together in a creative way.

I thought that this story was more a sad end to "childhood" and a painful, forced coming of age of the two younger characters. I hurt for the two characters at the end of the piece, but loved the last line, "I sat beside him in silence, my arm around his waist. This was not done." In a way, I took it as the young girl trying to deal with what had happened with the doves and to Columba saying that it was not right for them to had to have "grown up" in the way that they did.