This course has introduced me to the significance of reading a text for its material representations and realities. The trope of a rival geography, which actively protests its own exploitation, was reflected throughout the works we encountered in this course. In particular, the hurricane sequence in Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day, similarly employs the water and weather as a form of resistance and a demonstration of power, to George. When the hurricane hits Willow Springs, Abigail and Miranda sit “feeling the very earth split open as the waters come gushing down – all to the end of birthing a void” as “prayers go up in Willow Springs to be spared from what could only be the workings of Woman (Naylor 250-1). Again, the association between waters, women, and birthing is invoked as the violence and destruction of the storm is also rendered an act of renewal and restoration. This is accomplished through the destruction of the bridge connecting Willow Springs to the mainland, underscoring the significance of their communal self- sufficiency. This further demonstrates the way in which Black women’s archipelagic literature utilizes the socio-historical connection between Black women and water as a way to construct rival geographies which refuse the rigid categorization of white patriarchal hierarchical binaries and dynamics of dependence.

Another takeaway from reading Here Comes the Sun is that liberation is not possible under the terms of imperialism. Given the prevalence of neocolonialist development in Jamaica, a hopeful ending to the story is not possible. This does not mean there is no hope of resistance or even overthrow, as exemplified in the rival geographies such as Pregnant Heidi. Putting Here Comes the Sun in conversation with Mama Day, however, reveals the necessity of separation and disentanglement from the throws of colonialist interference. The ability of the Willow Springs community to thrive, in stark contrast to the struggles of River Bank, demonstrates the necessity to separate from the influence of neocolonialist interventions by any means necessary in order to establish a place where liberation can thrive.