Clear

The pistol is a symbol of colonialist violence in Clear. The pistol first appears when John unpacks his box upon arriving on the island. Strachan gives John the pistol before his eviction assignment, claiming that it may be necessary to use it to force Ivar out of his home. John is reluctant to use the gun, even leaving it in Baillie house, demonstrating his burgeoning moral qualms about evicting Ivar. The gun remaining in Baillie house further connects it to colonialist violence, as Baillie house itself is primarily used by Strachan and other Lowrie officials and hated by Ivar and his fellow islanders.

Ivar succinctly explains the connection between the pistol and violence when he finds the gun, thinking, “[T]he pistol had always seemed like a suggestion of what could happen if they didn’t produce the required seven stones’ weight of feathers, or complained about the estate leaving them with no wrack to nourish their crops” (148). Strachan kept the pistol visible whenever he visited the island throughout Ivar’s youth so that Ivar and the other islanders would assume that it could be used against them if they couldn’t make rent or if they pushed back against the oppressive Lowrie policies.