The Farming Of Bones Sparknotes

Darien Wellman
Latin American History
Dr. Nadel
October 11, 2014
Danticat, Edwidge. The Farming of Bones. New York: Soho Press, 1998. Edwidge Danticat’s book The Farming of Bones focused on the personal life of a Haitian maid named Annabelle who lived in the Dominican Republic in the 1930s. Throughout the book, the author gave the reader an inside look into the world in which Annabelle lived. It is a world based on the status of class and ethnicity. What is most important to notice is that the author includes important historical moments that go along with Annabelle’s story and helps to give the reader a better idea of the different events that affected Haitians personally and deeply. There are two big historical elements in the book. The first to look at is the famous Trujillo massacres of 1937. The massacres were authorized by the Dominican Republican dictator Rafael Trujillo. The massacres were designed as a form of ethnic cleansing due

According to Ghosh, “Dominicans, like many Latin American societies were ruled by a white Spanish elite who lorded over a population principally compromised of mixed race mulattoes or those who were of mixed European-Amerindian blood. Haitians in contrast, were overwhelmingly of unmixed black African heritage”(Ghosh). When Annabelle’s mistress Senora Valencia gives birth in the book, she has twins. A light skinned baby boy and a dark skinned baby girl. When she notices this, Valencia’s belief in what she considers her superior Dominican ethnicity is revealed by her saying “Annabelle do you think my daughter will always be the color she is now? My poor love, what if she’s mistaken for one of your people?”(Ghosh). Another example from the book is when Sebastian’s friend was hit by Senor Pico’s car and died. The fact that he was not arrested or charged for the crime speaks to how Haitian lives are not considered as important as Dominican