Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) Character Analysis in Erasure

In My Pafology, Clareece Jenkins (“Mama”) is Van Go’s mother. A single mother, she struggles to provide her children with a good life despite their poverty. She worries that her son is headed down the wrong path and worries about his future. Mama and Baby Girl sit in the audience during Go’s appearance on the Snookie Cane Show. As Snookie Cane and the audience berate Go, Mama breaks down, crying that she raised Go to be better than this.

Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) Quotes in Erasure

The Erasure quotes below are all either spoken by Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) or refer to Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

I look at my hands and they all covered wif blood and I realize I don’t know what goin on. So, I stab Mama again. I stab her cause I scared. I stab Mama cause I love her. I stab Mama cause I hate her. Cause I love her. Cause I hate her. Cause I ain’t got no daddy. Then I walk out the kitchen and stand outside, leavin Mama crawlin round on the linolum tryin to hold in her guts. I stands out on the sidewalk just drippin blood like a muthafucka. I look up at the sky and I try to see Jesus, but I cain’t.

Related Characters: Van Go Jenkins (speaker), Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, Stagg R. Leigh, Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama)

Page Number and Citation: 65

Explanation and Analysis:

This is an excerpt from the opening chapter of My Pafology, a novella Monk writes under the name Stagg R. Leigh. My Pafology satirizes works of urban fiction, which take place in a city and represent the struggles of the people who live there. Most works of recent and contemporary urban fiction (and the type that Monk satirizes in his novella) focus on Black people and rely on lazy stereotypes and reductive tropes to dramatize their struggles. The protagonist of My Pafology, Van Go Jenkins, displays a number of stereotypes attached to characters of the genre. He is a young Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et evenie

I can feel the rage swell up inside me. I hates this man. I hates my mama. I hates myself. I’m seein my face in his. I see the ape that stupid girls say they be fraid of. [...] I see Mama bleedin in my dream. I see my babies. I see Rexall, wifout a brain, growin up and axing “Why not me?” I see my daddy. I see myself. I shoot the muthafucka. Pop! In the gut.

Willy double over and he look at me like to say, “Why?” I yell at him. I be standin over him yellin at the back of his head. “Cause you aint shit!” I say. “Cause you made me, muthafucka! Cause I aint shit!” I be cryin now and I think I hear sumpin out at the street. I run again.

Related Characters: Van Go Jenkins (speaker), Willy the Wonker (speaker), Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama), Stagg R. Leigh, Thelonious “Monk” Ellison

Page Number and Citation: 124

Explanation and Analysis:

Go is hiding out in (what he thinks is) an abandoned building after shooting the Korean convenience store owner in a robbery gone wrong and fleeing the scene. But Willy the Wonker, an alcoholic man who repeatedly antagonizes and belittles Go with his insinuations that he is in fact Go’s father, appears before Go and proceeds to belittle him as he has done throughout the novel. At this point, Go’s patience has expired. He looks in Willy’s face and sees himself, and in that resemblance he also sees all that hatred and condescension that he has for Willy and that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi

I looks up and see the cameras. I get kicked again while I’m bein pulled to my feet. But I dont care. The cameras is pointin at me. I be on the TV. The cameras be full of me. I on TV. I say, “Hey, Mama.” I say, “Hey, Baby Girl. Look at me. I on TV.”

Related Characters: Van Go Jenkins (speaker), Tardreece/Baby Girl, Korean Man, Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama), Stagg R. Leigh

Page Number and Citation: 131

Explanation and Analysis:

These are the closing lines of My Pafology, Monk’s satire on urban fiction. The police are hot on Go’s trail after the release of security footage that shows him shooting and killing a Korean man who owns a convenience store. Go tries to force the police to give him a new car by holding a girl he snatches from a post office as hostage, the car’s airbags go off before he can flee the scene, and he finds himself in police custody. Realizing that he’s at the end of the line with nowhere else to turn, he faces the cameras Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque et repellendus. Dolores aut voluptatibus. Voluptatem qui voluptatum. Voluptatibus sed placeat. Aut tenetur autem. Fugit voluptates in. Quidem impedit sunt. Excepturi ullam nobis. Ducimus odio quo. Ut autem harum. Omnis vel voluptatum. Assumenda officia maiores. Voluptatem sint velit. Quod quia sapiente. Cum sunt quo. Accusamus veritatis voluptatum. Rerum est et. Aut autem sit. Soluta dolor fuga. Debitis ut est. Inventore qui voluptas. Velit corporis saepe. Distinctio veritatis enim. Natus inventore perspiciatis. Eaque labore vel. Libero sunt eum. Est libero quia. Dolor eum doloremque. Omnis enim iusto. Ipsa quia nesciunt. Doloremque et omnis. Aut sint debitis. Velit ut id. Id aut omnis. Adipisci id doloribus. Quis nihil perspiciatis. De

I chose one of the TV cameras and stared into it. I said, “Egads, I’m on television.”

Related Characters: Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (speaker), Stagg R. Leigh, Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama), Tardreece/Baby Girl, Van Go Jenkins

Page Number and Citation: 266

Explanation and Analysis:

Monk speaks this quote at the end of Chapter 18 when he reaches the stage to accept The Book Award for Fuck as Stagg R. Leigh. Notably, Monk’s direct address to the camera mirrors the lines the character Go speaks to the camera at the end of My Pafology/Fuck, when he is apprehended following a police chase. (“Hey, Mama.” I say, “Hey, Baby Girl. Look at me. I on TV.”) In referencing Go’s quote, Monk symbolically closes the distance he has thus far fought to maintain between himself and the Stagg R. Leigh persona, implicitly admitting to his authorship of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore

Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) Character Timeline in Erasure

The timeline below shows where the character Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) appears in Erasure. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Mama looks at the narrator—Van Go Jenkins—and his sister Tardreece (Baby Girl) and calls them “human... (full context)

...tells him to back off, Willy the Wonker laughs and insinuates he had sex with Van Go’s mom and might be Van Go’s father. (full context)

Mama and Baby Girl are just getting back from grocery shopping when Go arrives home. Go... (full context)

At breakfast the next morning, Mama tells Go about a job she’s heard about in West Hollywood that involves driving a... (full context)

...since he missed three shifts in a row, Go decides to check out the job Mama told him about. He takes a bus and arrives at a big house on a... (full context)

...Lois sternly tells Go that she’s giving him this chance as a favor to his mama. If he makes one mistake, he’s gone. Go agrees, albeit grudgingly. Lois shows him around... (full context)

...seeking shelter in an abandoned building. There, he encounters Willy the Wonker. Willy brings up Mama again and makes a crude remark about her body. Go is about to beat him... (full context)

After having breakfast with Mama and Baby Girl the next morning, Go take a bus to Mr. Dalton’s. When he... (full context)

...a show today at 1:00 p.m.—can Go make it? Go says yes. Baby Girl catches Mama up to speed, and then the three of them catch a ride to the studio... (full context)

Go, Mama, Baby Girl, and Quanita-Mack arrive at the studio. A producer named Gloria leads him backstage... (full context)

Go looks into the audience and sees Mama sitting in the front row. She starts to cry. Snookie Cane notices and asks Mama... (full context)

...looks up at the cameras as the police kick him. He smiles and says, “Hey, Mama. […] Hey, Baby Girl. Look at me. I on TV.” (full context)

Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) Character Analysis

Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) Quotes in Erasure

My Pafology: Won Quotes

My Pafology: Ate Quotes

My Pafology: Tin Quotes

Chapter 18 Quotes

Clareece Jenkins (Go’s Mother / Mama) Character Timeline in Erasure