Analysis Of E. Danticat's Brother I M Dying

In Brother, I’m Dying by E. Danticat, she tells a memoir of her personal family history. Throughout her novel she touches upon different topics, such as the role that religion plays in the lives of her family members or the relationship between life and death, and the influence it has on her and her family. Danticat also indirectly addresses more intimate subject matter, such as control and lack of control. Of all the topics that Danticat mentions in her book, I conclude that the one she explores most is distance and separation. I believe that she explores this one the most because it has directly affected her emotionally, physically, and mentally. From the beginning of the novel, we see how separation and distance affect the emotional aspects

As readers, we are able to see the different perspectives of the effects of physical distance that derives from immigration. For instance, when the Danticat’s parents left for the first time to the United States Danticat does not remember much of it. However, what she does remember are the stories that her half sister, Marie Micheline, told her about her father when they were gone. She told her stories of how the year before her father left he would buy Danticat a small package of butter cookies. He would bring these cookies home to Danticat and her face would light up. She didn’t particularly like the cookies, so she would would give them back to her father and her would joyfully pop them right into his mouth. I believe this shows the acute nostalgia that is developed in children as a result of not growing up with their parents. Children like Danticat love to hear these type of stories because they can embellish them as much as they want to. By doing this, they assure themselves that they are indeed loved by the parent(s) that left. Another instance of how physical distance has effect on the author’s life is through her Uncle Joseph. Even though she lived half of her life in the United States, Uncle Joseph still has a special place in her heart because he raised her in Haiti when her father and mother moved to the U.S. When her uncle gets stuck at customs at the Miami airport and goes to the Krome jail, Danticat is upset. She understands the severity of racism and cruelty that is undergone by the prisoners of Krome. Because she loves her uncle like a father, it defeats Danticat knowing that she is physically close to the jail but can not do anything in terms of helping him. When uncle Joseph dies under the Krome’s care Danticat is devastated by the news. She doesn’t know how to cope with herself