Dew Breaker Violence Quotes

In dictatorships throughout history violence has been used as a tool to control and oppress people. Examples of this include violence seen in Cuba, Iran, and North Korea. A more in depth example comes from the Haitian dictator François Duvalier, who controlled Haiti from 1957 to 1971. Duvalier was known as a brutal dictator who was not shy when it came to the use of violence and torture to control people. In the novel, The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat, violence is a recurring theme that appears in every part of the novel. The theme of violence in The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat, exemplifies how dictatorships used violence to oppress people, push their agenda onto people, and to silence dissidents.
The use of violence is a common

tactic that dictatorships use to control and oppress people. In almost all dictatorships acts of extreme violence are used to strike fear into people in a bid to control them and to prevent anyone from dissenting. A perfect example of this comes from the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, who has been known to kill anyone who voices any sort of opposition to him and his ideals. Another example of this comes from the novel, The Dew Breaker. In the first short story, Ka’s father admits to her that he used to work at a prison in Haiti when Haiti was still under the control of a dictator. He explains to her the type of evil acts he committed while working there: “’This man who cut my face,’ he continues, ‘I shot and killed him, like I killed many people’” (Danticat 35). In the quote Ka’s father is describing the reason why he believes he does not deserve a statue. He talks about how he is was working at a prison in Haiti and how he hurt many people. The quote shows how a dictator used violence to control the population in the form of having prison guards and other law officers commit acts of violence. The dictator used violence, just as Kim Jong Un, does to inflict pain and to strictly enforce law. Without tactics such as these dictators would have a much more difficult time controlling large swaths of the population. Continuing on this topic, another prime example of a dictator using violence to control the population comes from Saddam Hussein, who used extreme force to control any dissidents:
Violence only works if it is overwhelming. Up to a critical point, civilian losses embolden protesters who will rally against the injustices they see in the loss of their comrades. If the losses are massive, and pass that point, protesters are likely to realize that the state means business and is here to stay. This was the case in 1991; as soon as Saddam Hussein was allowed to use helicopter gunships, he did. The magnitude of destruction was stratospheric and anybody seen as being remotely sympathetic to the uprising was punished. (Economist)
The excerpt above is from an Economist article about the use of force in dictatorships.

In the quote the author talks about how violence only truly works when it is overwhelming. This means that force acts of violence to have a large impact they must be overwhelming and severe. The example used in the quote is Saddam Hussein, who used helicopter gunships to disperse protestors. The basic idea behind using that much violence to control a group follows the logic that if you can show protestors/dissidents that they will sustain massive losses then they are more likely to hold off on protesting. This same ideologies was used in Haiti when it was under a dictator. This dictator, François Duvalier used extreme violence to control Haiti when he was in

control.
Although patently a dictator who would not hesitate to kill his enemies in order to maintain his power over the black Republic of Haiti, Francois Duvalier would have had the world believe he was really just a simple little country doctor, so loved by his people that it became his abiding duty to remain “President for Life.” (Krebs)
In the quote above the author talks about how Papa Doc would not hesitate to murder anyone who stood in his way.

This is a common mentality that many dictators have. It is very common for dictator’s to use violence to dispatch of any problems that arise. It is this type of indiscriminate violence that haunts Ka’s father in The Dew Breaker. In addition to being a ruthless and violent dictator, Papa Doc, also actively tried to keep his people, the people of Haiti illiterate so that he could better control them. When this failed though and dissidents arose Papa Doc was not afraid to use extreme force. In addition to using violence to oppress people dictators have been known to use acts of violence for other

reasons.
Dictators such as Papa Doc used violence to push their agenda on to the population. During the time Papa Doc was in power he used violence to push his agenda and to indoctrinate his subjects with his personal ideals. He used acts of violence to push people into submitting to his agenda. In addition to doing this Papa Doc also used violence and secrete police to make those who disagreed with him disappear.
He reformed the loosely controlled gang of thugs he'd utilized to annoy his opponents in the 1957 election into a tightly controlled secret police, nicknamed the Tontons Macoute after a mythical Haitian boogeyman that grabs people and makes them the disappear forever. Papa Doc's opposition was fractured and jockeying for their own share of government kickbacks and fraud. Papa Doc wasted no time in sending his enemies to the ghastly Fort Dimanche to be tortured to death. The country's leading newspaper editors and radio station owners were jailed for specious sedition charges, and it soon became clear that the good doctor would not simply be a transitory authority figure as his predecessors had been (Mount Holyoke).
In the except above the author talks about the tactics that Papa Doc used to ruthlessly control Haiti while he was in power. Continuing on this point dictator have been known to semi brain wash their subjects into blindly following them. Examples of this come from places like North Korea: “Kim’s official biography stated that he never needed to use a toilet because his body was so well calibrated he didn’t urinate or defecate” (New York Post). Lies like the one described in the quote are common in the North Korean dictatorship. This type of deception is used in combination with the control of the press to portray dictators as gods to their subjects. Papa Doc was also guilty of using tactics like these to control his people:
He'd also deliberately terrified the uneducated peasantry by posing as Baron Samedi - the voodoo loa (spirit) of the dead. And indeed, when wearing his top hat and tails, Papa Doc was the spitting image of the Baron, and wasted little time printing posters that suggested quite straightforwardly that Papa Doc was one with the loas, Jesus Christ, and God himself. His endless harangues broadcast on the radio built his bizarre personality cult in a similar fashion (Mount Holyoke).
The quote above shows how Papa Doc used misinformation to control the population. He was known for saying that he was Baron Samedi, which is a voodoo spirit of the dead. This may sound crazy to people in the countries such as the United States of America but in Haiti voodoo was wide spread. By saying that he was a spirit Papa Doc was trying to make the illiterate and spiritual class fear him in a bid to gain more control over the population. These types of actions are used to gain loyalty from the population. Papa Doc was successful in doing that and gained enough support that he was able to get people to do acts of violence for him, such as Ka’s father in The Dew Breaker, who was responsible for torturing and killing the people that Papa Doc did not like: “‘This man who cut my face,’ he continues, ‘I shot and killed him, like I killed many people’” (Danticat 35). In the quote Ka’s father tells her that he killed many people while working for one of Papa Docs’ prisons. This shows how Papa Doc was successful in gaining Ka’s father’s complete loyalty to the point where he was willing to do horrendous act of violence for Papa Doc.