A part of the book that I did not understand was: “Sun, Angel Sun, curly Angel of the Sun
for a leap beyond the sweet and greenish treading of the waters of abjection!” In the previous chunk of text, Cesaire narrates an erratic series of memories and thoughts that he has– the writing is almost a list of different scenarios and phrases that he is remembering. Following that, the line about the Sun confuses me because I don’t understand what his reference to the Sun means. Cesaire seems to get more specific with his description of the Sun when he says “Sun, Angel Sun, curly Angel of the Sun”. The Sun may represent a higher spiritual power such as God (Angel Sun) or it could be a higher power meaning white people, (curly Angel of the Sun– but the “curly” part throws me off because stereotypically speaking black people have curly hair, so maybe he is saying he himself is a “curly Angel of the Sun”?). The first time I read this sentence I thought he was referring to the Sun as white people, and so I read the second half of the sentence as sarcasm. However, reading more closely, if he is referring to himself or black people as the Angels of the Sun, then he may be trying to speak to his desire to “leap beyond the…waters of abjection”– the abjection caused by the experiences that taunt him in the passage before this line. The multiple different interpretations of this one line make it a little difficult for me to understand who Cesaire is addressing and why.

-Sabrina Rodriguez