Major Themes
- Lesbianism. The book describes the way lesbians lived in New York City, Connecticut and Mexico during the years spanned in the book.
- Racism. The landlord who hangs himself, the ice-cream episode in Washington D.C., the increased suspicion during the McCarthy era all contribute to highlight the theme of racism.
- The mother. Audre's difficult relationship with her mother, whom she credits for imbuing her with a certain sense of strength, pervades throughout the book.
- McCarthyism and the Rosenbergs are also mentioned.
Read more about this topic: Zami: A New Spelling Of My Name
Famous quotes containing the words major and/or themes:
“With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me, it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”
—Robert Bolt (1924–1995)
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)