A Tempest of Tea

Calibore represents Arthie’s complex claim on Ettenia as a nation and as her “home,” while also exploring The Impact of Colonialism on Personal Development. As a magical artifact, Calibore means different things to different people. Arthie views it as her tether to her revenge against Ettenia, while Laith sees it as his duty and goal. However, the artifact’s reputation among the people of Ettenia portrays it as a prized but ultimately decorative object that symbolizes the country’s power. Calibore’s symbolic significance is therefore highly mutable. The people of Ettenia rendered it a useless symbol for profit, while Arthie uses it as a weapon and as a marker of her power over Ettenia, and Laith uses it for murder. In all three cases, however, Calibore becomes a tool for violence and power, not for peace.

Hafsah Faizal crafts Calibore as a symbolic derivative of the Arthurian sword Excalibur, just as Arthie’s name is derived from Arthur’s. Just as Arthur famously pulled Excalibur from the stone, Arthie solved the mechanisms and pulled Calibore, a pistol, from the stone that held it. However, Arthie’s act undoes the image of the “divine right of kings” as well as the white privilege tied up in the implicit connection between England and Ettenia, for she is an orphan immigrant rather than a prince.