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Breaking Out of the Shackles of Oppression In societies of the past, and many of modern times, father figures hold a great deal of power with their families. They even have enough power to force their ideals on the members of their household. This is true of the father, Clive, in Cloud 9, written by feminist playwright, Caryl Churchill. Throughout Cloud 9, the major thread that links the characters of Joshua and Betty, is the fact that they are both oppressed by the patriarchal figure of the play, Clive. Clive, a colonial administrator, imposes his ideals on the people living in his house. All of the characters, in one way or another, define themselves by their relationship with Clive. This is why a white man plays Clive’s black servant, Joshua. Clive has brainwashed Joshua so that he too, a black man, feels that white people are the superior race. Joshua’s first line in the play may illustrate this best. “My skin is black but my soul is white. I hate my tribe. My master is my light. I only live for him. As you can see, what white men want is what I want to be” (Churchill 826). The purpose of Joshua being played a white man is to visually show the way that Clive oppresses him. Joshua is no longer free to live