and her traveling companion, Thomasina is widow as well, but has no children. She becomes very upset when she learns that Avey is leaving the cruise early, showing her typical short temper and outspokenness. Clarice: Avey's other cruise ship partner, Clarice is much more passive in her reaction to Avey's leaving the ship. An overweight divorcee, Clarice is the youngest of the three African-American friends and has one son. Lebert Joseph: The owner of the small rum shop on Grenada which Avey enters on the beach, Lebert is a very old man with one short, gimp leg. He has a daughter named Rosalie Parvay who lives on Carriacou, and many grandchildren who live in the states. He is proud to direct his African heritage to the Chamba tribe, for which he knows the ritual song and dance. Rosalie Parvay: The widow daughter of Lebert Joseph, Rosalie lives on Carriacou with her maid, Milda. Aunt Cuney: A major figure in the childhood of Avey, Aunt Cuney is a woman who tells stories to Avey about African slaves when Avey visits her in Tatem, South Carolina, as a child. Major themes The cultural significance of language: Avey’s inability to speak Patois widens the barrier between her and the out-islanders going on the excursion. The cab driver asserts that those venturing to Carriacou only talk in the Creole dialect one weekend a year and the rest of the time speak in the “King’s English” (76). The language, despite being virtually useless in the daily lives of the out-islanders, enforces the deep ties they have to their ancestral past. Avey’s lack of comprehension in Patois ultimately magnifies her cultural ineptness and her isolation from those around her. However friendly the out-islanders may be, she feels uncomfortable and awkward around them as their cultural traditions, traditions that should be hers as well, only confuse her. Dance: Throughout the novel, dancing becomes a spiritually freeing act for Avey. Not only does Avey recall meeting her late husband at a dance, but also reminisces with great fondness about the nights the couple spent unwinding from their long days by dancing in their apartment on Halsey Street. On these nights, she recollects feeling “centered and sustained… restored to her proper axis” (254). Dance clearly plays an important part in her life even before her journey to Carriacou as Avey uses it to temporarily forget her daily troubles and