Children of the Sea by Edwidge Danticat - Research Paper Example

Anita P. Sharma English 102 25 April Children of the Sea Introduction Introduction The short story selected for the research work is “Children of the Sea” by Edwidge Danticat. The reason for the selection the story is that it has intense implications of the human rights and feelings of love. The story is all about the brutal behaviors of the soldiers and the terror created in the name of dictatorship against the revolutionist. Moreover, the story also elaborates the fact that despite the extreme brutality the love keeps its existence for ever. This introduction part of the essay covers the background of the story that includes the author’s biography and the summary of the story 1.1. About the Author The essay is about the critical evaluation of the short story of children of the sea by Edwidge Danticat, who was born in 1969 in the Haiti’s capital. She had the hands on experience of most of the events she mentioned in her different stories. Danticat’s parents left her in Haiti four years after her birth and immigrated to USA. She spends 12 years of her life in Port-au-Prince. In 1981, she went to USA. She felt herself like an alien and in order to break her loneliness she started writing. Her writings started from the memories of her homeland i.e. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. By the time she reached her teenage she realized her quality of writing and started to write Novels. Her work was first published in 1994 with the name of Breath, Eyes and Memory. Her parents tried to make her nurse but after her graduation from a specialized high school she was more inclined towards the writings. Her first published novels i.e. breath, Eyes & Memory, were also served as her Master’s dissertations and were highly acclaimed by critics. The acclamation also includes Children of the Sea. It was published in 1995. Her collection of the novels and stories were nominated for the National Book Award. The following year Edwidge Danticat was named as the best Young American Novelist by the magazine named as Granta. She lives in the New York City and has become the teacher of creative writing (Boynton and Malin). 1.2. Summary of the Story The story is about the boat on which a revolutionary guy who was on a small boat that set sail for Miami. The young man belonged to Haiti, and he was a university student. Since his university period he became the religionist against the dictator in Haiti. As a result of his revolutionary activities in Haiti against the dictator of the time, the secret police named as Tonton Macoutes raid on his group. The young guy had to be exiled from the Haiti because Haitian Government wanted him. The young man had a girlfriend in his university. They were madly in love with each other. The parents of the young woman were against their love. The reason was that her father was afraid that the revolutionist may use his daughter and if her daughter will be attached with the revolutionist will be of no good for her. The time after when the couple was separated then they both started to write letters to each other but did not send to each other. They both were the members of the youth federation at the university, and most of their friends at the federation were killed by the soldiers and they tried to kill the young man as well along with the girl but the young man left the Haiti through the sea channel. The soldiers also tried to kill his girlfriend, but she was saved because of her father. Her father bribed the soldier. As both the lovers could not send their letters but they continued to write letters to each other because so the loneliness of both the lovers could be reduced. The whole story revolves around the sinking boat. All the people on the boat knew they will be died soon because the boat started to sink. The people on the boat had to face the problems of vomiting, temperature changes, food shortages, and privacy issues. The young man saw a dream that he had died and gone to heaven. He realized that heaven was nothing but the bottom of the sea. He also saw her girlfriend in heaven along with her father. Her father kept them apart even in heaven. The young woman had also left her place i.e. Port au Prince because her neighbor Madan Roger’s son was also involved in the youth federation and one night the soldiers brutally killed Madan Roger’s son. The soldiers then tortured Madan Roger to tell them the names of the people who were associated with the youth federation. The father of the young lady was afraid that if Madan Roger will tell the soldiers about the girlfriend of the young man then the soldiers will kill his daughter as well. Therefore, they left their place and settled down at Ville Rose. The letters continued of both the lovers. On the boat, there was a teenage lady named Celianne, who gave birth to a dead child. The people on the boat were gossip about her saying that she was kicked from her home by her parents because of having an affair, but the reality was extremely worse than the assumptions of the people on the boat about Celianne. She was raped by the soldiers because soldiers attacked at her home to arrest his brother. Her brother was also a revolutionary. The soldiers forced his brother to have sex with her mother. The soldiers then raped Celianne. She cut her face so that no one would come to know who she was. At the boat, everything was tossed overboard, and everyone had to throw their belongings in the sea to save them and Celianne had to throw her dead baby. The young boy had to throw his notebook on which he was writing letters to her girlfriend. Before throwing the notebook on the sea he wrote last page of his final thoughts and then joined the “Children of the Sea”, who were those who have joined the place away from all the violence and he will always remember her girlfriend. Her girlfriend left Ville Rose as well sat under Banyan tree, surrounded by black butterflies. The place where she sat was mountains away from the sea, she knew the boat that sank off the coast was her lover’s boat, but she knows that her love will always be there with him (Edwidge). 2. Theme The story revolves around narration of man and woman who are in love but are far apart from one another. The two main themes of the story include; a man fighting against nature in the boat and secondly woman fighting against societal issues being faced in the country. 2.1 Fight against nature This theme refers to the issues being faced by the man due to nature, which he have to deal with in order to have hope. Because hope is considered to be the strongest weapon of all. The idea of brutality was extremely different in Haiti than that in other countries. The mentality of Haitians considers only the forces with unthinkable to reasons and logic. Therefore, the dictatorship in Haiti madly cracked down against the youth federation without considering the logics (Dubois 237). The Haitian guy escaped from the country on a boat because he was wanted by the soldiers. If he had not left, he might have got himself killed. The problems narrated by the Haitian man who is surviving in a small boat along with 36 people with limited supplies. And the situation worsened when a crack appeared on the boat which if not filled with the tar will drown the ship. In the day time, the scorching heat of sun and sun rays were creating sunburns while at the night people feared of sea storm or wind. Moreover, most of the people had sea sickness due to which they had nausea in the sea. The stinking smell of people was unbearable. The young Haitian boy was battling against the nature with the hope of reaching Miami, where he would be safe from the Haitian soldiers. 2.2 Fight against societal issue The second theme revolves around the Haitian girl who was trying to survive in a society that was traumatized by the ruthless army formed by the Government. The residents were being killed with no reasons, and immoral acts were being forced by the soldiers. The soldiers forced father and daughter or mother and son to sleep together. And later arrest them or killed them for immoral acts. Any person who they found being involved with Youth Federation was killed brutally by them. Despite these problems, Haitian girl love for the Haitian boy was not being accepted by her father due to boy’s involvement with Youth Federation. Moreover, his father was conservation in allowing her daughter is getting married to her love and forced her to stay away from him. Although, one underlying reason of father’s action was that he was trying to protect his daughter’s and family’s life. Even though, later at the end girl came to know that her mother had chosen her loved one over her family, and they had a very successful married life. But the ending notes of girl’s mother have portrayed the societal discrimination of the viewpoints, initially being a lover and later being the parent. 3. Arguments The story has a very emotional context that gave the readers goose bumps but there are various opinions and influences, which when studied deeply can be an eye-opener for all of us. 3.1. Ray of Hope Celiana, a young girl who was just 15 years old, was living with her brother and mother in Haiti. One dark night, soldiers came to her house forcing her brother to sleep with his mother and threatened him that they will kill them all if he did not follow the instruction. It must have been quite disturbing for a young girl to watch all of this. But sadly it wasn’t the end, soldiers tied up her mother and brother. And 13 soldiers raped a young little girl who scared her face with the razor so that none of the soldiers could recognize her later. Few days later she found out that she was pregnant, she could easily have gone for abortion. Even after the gossips she heard, she decided to keep the child and go to another country where she can take care of her child. Celiana’s story gives hope that no matter how bad the situation gets, the person should never lose hope and should try to find out a way to deal with it. Similarly in another story by Ray St John also describes the teenage child who fought against his obsessive compulsive disorder but did not lose the ray of hope and succeeded (John) 3.2. Violation of Human Rights Story ‘Children of the Sea’ has described the series of inhumane acts that the Haiti civilians have to face. It is one of the major duty of the countries to provide security and safety to every person. While, on the contrary, none was being provided to Haitians by the government. Residents were being terrorized and forced to do immoral acts that otherwise would have cost their and their family’s life. Like when the next door neighbor of the young Haitian girl was called to take the body of his son morgue. But when she reached there, his son’s head was given to her which she took with her to her home. On her way home, soldiers mocked at her by saying if she will have her son’s head for dinner. Similarly, the rumor was spread by the soldiers that the previous president is coming back, and he will be reaching the airport on the very day. This rumor made the residents hopeful and strong, most of them got excited and decided to receive their president. But it was a trap set by the soldiers; because when the people came to the airport soldiers were there who arrested and shot people down. The right of freedom and right to express their thoughts was snatched by the soldiers and made Haitian’s life miserable. 3.3. Impacts of Conflicts The human rights state that “One should treat others as one should like others to treat oneself” (Reilly 16). In the story “Children of The Sea”, the author describes the father of the young lady, who did not want her daughter to be connected with her boyfriend who was a revolutionist. The reason behind her father rigid behavior against their love was that the young boy was of no worth for his daughter. Contrariwise, at the end of the story when the mother of the young lady told her about her father’s background that he was a gardener. Her mother belonged to a financially sound family, and her mother had to choose between her family (Parents) and her father. Her mother selected her father. However, at the time when the father of the young lady came across the same situation in case of her daughter, he became against of their relationship. Therefore, it shows the contradiction of thoughts of young lady’s father. 3.4. War on Civilians The soldiers attacked brutally to the families of the revolutionists. The mother of the revolutionist named as Madan Roger in the story was brutally tortured by the soldiers even after the death of her son. The question that arises is that is it considered immoral to kill or torture civilians during the war? The question has been gaining its importance over the period. The story has links with the current situation in Haiti, where the protectors who are named as the United Nations “peacekeeping” forces are acting like ruthless predators abusing and torturing even the children and the old people (Newman). In addition to this, the story also elaborates that the soldiers raped the ladies in Haiti and forced the under attacked revolutionist to have sex with their mothers has been in existence. The brutality is in existence with the recent report on Haiti by (Klarreich) in her report on “United Nations in Haiti: When Protectors Turned Predators” gave a classic example of war on civilians in Haiti. The reports and the story by Danticat both describe the clear examples of war on civilians in Haiti which is brutally undertaken. 4. Conclusion: The story is the clear example of attacks against the human rights. The civilians in Haiti were brutally treated by the secret soldiers, and no one was there to help them. The beauty of love let the girl and the boy to wait for each other till they reach heaven. The extreme behavior of the soldiers with no mercy for women and children may cause severe damages to the people. The dictatorship showed the lost liberty in Haiti, which lead to the foundation of the youth federation against the dictatorship. The power of foundation was not as strong as the dictatorship that resulted in the excessive use of power by the soldiers in the shape of ruthless, inhuman behaviors. However, despite all the brutality the love showed its existence as well. The writing style of the Edgewidge Danticat has shown extreme depth and pain. The story depicts the inner feelings and experiences of the author regarding the situation in Haiti. Her loneliness in US convinced her to write about the realities of her homeland, so the readers may be able to understand the pain of the natives who came across the situation. She tried to expose in front of the world, the truth regarding the violation of human rights within Haiti. The story discusses the plight of the refugees in terms of the problems that were faced by the people on the boat such as temperature, food and other problems over the sea. Human resilience over human rights violation in terms of the level of brutality by the soldiers on the freedom fighters. Defiance of the trauma of freedom fighters was discussed in terms of the youth foundation against the dictatorship of Haiti. Impacts of conflicts were elaborated by discussing the young girl father’s role in the story who did not like the same situation for her daughter for which he opted for himself and the last point of War on civilians is described by the ruthless role of the soldiers. Therefore, the story covers number of areas of human rights violation but the moral of the story shows that every cloud has a silver lining (Stevens 9) i.e. the girl did not lose her hope and started to live with the memories of her beloved. Moreover, whatsoever the hardships are you have to stay strong and keep fighting against the ruthless world Works Cited 1. Boynton, Victoria and Jo Malin. Encyclopedia of Womens Autobiography. Greenwood Publsihing Group, 2005. Book. . 2. Dubois, laurent. Haiti: The aftershocks of History. Mcmillan, 2012. Print. . 3. Edwidge, Danticat. Krik?Krak. Soho Press, 2004. book. . 4. Jhon, Ray St. The Ray of Hope. Vermillion Press, 2011. Electronic. 5. Klarreich, Kathie. "United Nations In Haiti." 2014. . 6. Newman, Alex. UN "Peace" Forces Prey on Civilians, Children. The New Americans, 2015. . 7. Reilly, Richard. Ethics of Compassion: Bridging Ethical Theory and Religious Moral. plymouth: Lexington Books, 2008. Electronic Source. 8. Stevens, Scott. Every Silver Lining has a cloud. Xlibris Corporation, n.d. Book. Read More