In Edwidge Danticat’s novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, the reader follows the life of young Haitian girl Sophie Caco. Living with her aunt and later her mother, Sophie grows up with mostly the influence of women in her family. Growing older, though, she learns what a heavy burden she carries being a woman, and the strict traditions she must conform to. Sophie spends her life split between Haiti and New York City, where her mother, Martine, lives. Back in her home country of Haiti, she lives with her Tante Atie, and although there is the presence of colorful Haitian culture, there is also political instability and disturbing, sexist traditions. In New York, she struggles to fit in with her birth mother in modern America. Her heart is torn between these two countries and her trust of her mother.In Breath, Eyes, Memory, Haiti’s vibrant traditions and corrupt politics are reflected as well as its inferior treatment of women.
Haitian culture is prominent in Sophie’s life and follows her everywhere, even when she moves to New York City to live with her mother. Before Sophie leaves for America, the reader witnesses a traditional potluck that the people in the Caco’s neighborhood hold regularly: “In spite of where they might live, this potluck was open to everybody who wanted to come. There was no field to plant, but the workers used their friendships in the factories or their grouping in the common yards as a reason to get together, eat, and celebrate life” (Danticat 11-12). Through this passage we can tell that this tradition is warm and welcoming to all people and serves as a social event to familiarize Haitians with their neighbors who they see every day. This may be why Sophie feels so obligated to impress her family and obey her aunt wh...
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... Because Sophie’s virginity was valued more than her character when she was younger, she feels dissociated from herself and sees her body as “dirty”. If “testing” is a cultural tradition in Haiti, that could mean that many Haitian women have problems with body image, which shows how harmful something deemed so harmless to the mothers of Haiti can be.
Breath, Eyes, Memory paints a colorful picture of Haiti’s culture and traditions, whether they be empowering or damaging. Themes of cultural traditions, politics, and gender equality are present throughout the novel, as evidenced by Haiti’s rich culture, the violence of the Duvalier rule, and the virginity testing present in Haitian households. In reading Breath, Eyes, Memory, the reader is reminded that we must remember that values and traditions are different all over the world whether they ultimately harm or heal.
In all, Tademy does a great job in transporting her readers back to the 1800s in rural Louisiana. This book is a profound alternative to just another slave narrative. Instead of history it offers ‘herstory’. This story offers insight to the issues of slavery through a women’s perspective, something that not so many books offer. Not only does it give readers just one account or perspective of slavery but it gives readers a take on slavery through generation after generation. From the early days of slavery through the Civil War, a narrative of familial strength, pride, and culture are captured in these lines.
Laurence Hill’s novel, The Book of Negroes, uses first-person narrator to depict the whole life ofAminata Diallo, beginning with Bayo, a small village in West Africa, abducting from her family at eleven years old. She witnessed the death of her parents with her own eyes when she was stolen. She was then sent to America and began her slave life. She went through a lot: she lost her children and was informed that her husband was dead. At last she gained freedom again and became an abolitionist against the slave trade. This book uses slave narrative as its genre to present a powerful woman’s life.She was a slave, yes, but she was also an abolitionist. She always held hope in the heart, she resist her dehumanization.
Danticat's Krik? Krak!, are a collection of short stories about Haiti and Haitian-Americans before democracy and the horrible conditions that they lived in. Although it is a mistake to call the stories autobiographical, Krik? Krak! embodies some of Danticat's experiences as a child. While the collection of stories draw on the oral tradition in Haitian society, it is also part of the literature of diaspora, the great, involuntary migration of Africans from their homeland to other parts of the world; thus, the work speaks of loss and assimilation and resistance. The stories all seem to share similar themes, that one story could be in some way linked to the others. Each story had to deal with relationships, either with a person or a possession, and in these relationships something is either lost or regained. Another point that was shared throughout the short stories was the focus on the struggles of the women in Haiti. Lastly they all seem to weave together the overarching theme of memory. It's through memory and the retelling of old stories and legends that the Haitians in Danticat's tales achieve immortality, and extension to lives that were too often short and brutal.
Valerie Martin’s Novel Property is an engrossing story of the wife of a slave owner and a slave, whom a mistress of the slave owner, during the late 18th century in New Orleans. Martin guides you through both, Manon Guadet and her servant Sarah’s lives, as Ms. Gaudet unhappily lives married on a plantation and Sarah unhappily lives on the plantation. Ms. Gaudet’s misserableness is derived from the misfortune of being married to a man that she despises and does not love. Sarah, the slave, is solely unhappy due to the fact that she is a slave, and has unwillingly conceived to children by Ms. Gaudiest husband, which rightfully makes Sarah a mistress. Throughout the book, Martin captivates the reader and enables you to place yourself in the characters shoes and it is almost as you can relate to how the characters are feeling.
There are such few Americans who know about Haiti, and the tragedies that the country had gone though. In Edwidge Dandicat’s Krik? Krak! This was originally published in 1991, shows her audience the audacities that happened during the Duvalier’s dictatorship. Danticat lets her audience see that even though the Haitian’s are going through these massive troubles they are also going through emotional troubles, such as heart break. These forms of troubles may not seem as difficult as the many; many other hardships the characters have gone through. Although, through “Children of the Sea” and “Caroline’s Wedding” Danticat shows two different stories, though very different, can be similar. Both Caroline and the unnamed woman were told that the men
presence (Tablet I: 30-38). In addition, he emerges more divine than human (Tablet I: 50)
...ed by the ancient symbol of fear, conveys the child's panic. The mother's approach is a source of terror for the child, written as if it is a horror movie, suspense created with the footsteps, the physical embodiment of fear, the doorknob turns. His terror as 'he tries to run' but 'her large hands hold him fast' is indicative of his powerless plight. The phrase, 'She loves him...' reiterates that this act signifies entrapment as there is no reciprocation of the ‘love’. It is ironic that her love is deemed 'the frightening fact'. Clearly this form of love will destroy his innocence, his freedom to think for himself, his ability to achieve emotional fulfilment. We sense the overpowering, suffocating nature of this form of love, but also the nature of American cultural imperialism, which is similarly stifling to the development of national identity and fulfilment.
Ayiti, by Roxane Gay, is a collection of fifteen short narratives about Haiti and its people, which gives the readers insights into the complex Haitian diaspora experience. The novel seeks to offer a deeper view into Haitian society and covers an array of themes such as the politics of survival, resiliency, and feminist culture in Haiti. Throughout the novel, Gay is highly critical of mainstream media because of how they depict and silo Haiti as a poor and helpless country. Haiti’s historical stance on censorship is well documented, and as a Haitian writer living in America, Gay is successful in giving agency to the voiceless by chronicling the stories of the Haitian diaspora. Ayiti explores stories that explain what it is like to be a Haitian
The women in Nampossela lack the social and economic rights to make many significant decisions about their life. Due to her simultaneous position as an outsider and a member of the group, Holloway becomes an unbiased outlet that Monique and other woman can speak with regarding their difficulties. One such difficulty amongst women in Mali that Holloway discovered was female circumcision. Holloway, prior to her visit to Mali, was aware of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in rural villages. However, the intense birth of Korotun’s daughter causes Holloway to question the reasoning behind the traditional cutting. In response to Holloway’s mention of FGM, Monique explains her painful experience of circumcision at nine or ten and her thoughts on the subject, “Here we say that koloboli helps girls become good wives and bear children…it does not help the baby pass through…”(114). The practice of FGM in Mali occurs often enough that Monique had never met an uncut woman prior to Holloway, whose western background does not practice FGM.
We have all heard the African proverb that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The response given by Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, simply states, “If you’ve got a village. But if you don’t, then maybe it just takes two people” (Donoghue 234). For Jack, Room is where he was born and has been raised for the past five years; it is his home and his world. Jack’s “Ma” on the other hand knows that Room is not a home, in fact, it is a prison. Since Ma’s kidnapping, seven years prior, she has survived in the shed of her capturer’s backyard. This novel contains literary elements that are not only crucial to the story but give significance as well. The Point-of-view brings a powerful perspective for the audience, while the setting and atmosphere not only affect the characters but evokes emotion and gives the reader a mental picture of their lives, and the impacting theme along-side with conflict, both internal and external, are shown throughout the novel.
Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig is a novel that presents the harshness of racial prejudice during the 19th century combined with the traumas of abandonment. The story of Frado, a once free-spirited mulatto girl abandoned by her white mother, unfolds as she develops into a woman. She is faced with all the abuse and torment that Mrs. Belmont, the antagonist, could subject her to. Still she survives to obtain her freedom. Through the events and the accounts of Frado’s life the reader is left with a painful reality of the lives of indentured servants.
“Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid is essentially a set of instructions given by an adult, who is assumed to be the mother of the girl, who is laying out the rules of womanhood, in Caribbean society, as expected by the daughter’s gender. These instructions set out by the mother are related to topics including household chores, manners, cooking, social conduct, and relationships. The reader may see these instructions as demanding, but these are a mother’s attempt, out of care for the daughter, to help the daughter to grow up properly. The daughter does not appear to have yet reached adolescence, however, her mother believes that her current behavior will lead her to a life of promiscuity. The mother postulates that her daughter can be saved from a life of promiscuity and ruin by having domestic knowledge that would, in turn also, empower her as a productive member in their community and the head of her future household. This is because the mother assumes that a woman’s reputation and respectability predisposes the quality of a woman’s life in the community.
Although in Breath, Eyes, Memory, by Edwidge Danticat, Sophie loves and cares very much for her mother Martine, the relationship between the two women is strained and somewhat adversarial. This is due to the negative circumstances surrounding Sophie's existence. Sophie is the product of her mother's rape, and her mother can not stop thinking about this aspect of their relationship. She has nightmares about the rape every night, and these nightmares are more intense when Sophie is living with her.
There are numerous examples of women in French Caribbean literature and their ability to triumph over major obstacles within their own lives is shown in the texts. What does it mean to be a woman of French Caribbean culture and identity and how is it shown in literature? Author Amy Garvey of the article Women as Leaders illuminates how Caribbean women are starting to become more influential leaders who “are extending ...
There will not be any kind of literature if there is not a language. That is a language which creates literature and with its features helps it to be more interesting. Richard Eyre; English director (in Kermode 2001: 4) says, “The life of the plays is in the language”. It will become more powerful if more structures of linguistics are applied. For instance, there is someone who would like to be in a situation of criminal investigation, but it is impossible for him to inter such a place. He might be able to get a quite clear picture, by the help of linguistic features, for what he dreams about through following a piece of literature. Being familiarized with linguistics would let people to understand literature in a better way. They would also think about it in a more critical way and engage to the depth of the meaning.