Edwidge Danticat Novel Breath Eyes and Memory - Essay Example

Institute 10 December 2006 Edwige Danticat's novel Breath, Eye and memory - significance in relation to the story of Haitian-American culture, the relationship of the women, and the burden of inheritance Edwige Danticat's novel 'Breath, Eye and memory' gives us a socio-cultural perspective of Haiti, Haitian-Americans in the eyes of Haitian women. The story creates a relationship of three generations of Haitian women, the Haitian tradition, the liberation of women in Haitian ways and the liberation of Haitian women, migrated to America. The traditional way of life is described in the life of Grandmother Ife. If herself went through the cruelty of 'test'ing. But religious adherence to social rules about purity, chasteness, and familial honor keep her from fully understanding the humiliation. It is a case of honor for her. She believes in personal commitments and implies that it takes much more than a piece of paper for keeping memory. She derides Atie and Louise's trip to officially register themselves in the city archives. She tells stories of the baby's birth and Ti Alice's rendezvous showing her wider experience and a kind of special literacy she is aware of. She has the capability of forming an entire story from the night's whisperings and the blinking of lights on the hill. In the stories she attempted to frighten her daughters knowing well the harshness of the society and the cruelty on women who do not adhere to the mold. For Ife, Brigitte's face evokes generations of ancestors. She attempts to arrange reconciliation of the estranged family; her two daughters and granddaughter, she is well aware of the stakes. She knows that the family must stay strong and stay together if its daughters are to bear up under the weight of the world. In Atie we find the life of traditional Haitian life and how a woman finds her own liberty in her Haitian society. Atie is characterized by the traditional duty bound Haitian woman, who had her own share of 'test'ing of her hymen as a proof of her virginity and purity. She has the traditional duty of looking after Sophie, her sister's illegitimate daughter. She gives all the love and affection of a mother to Sophie, in the process makes Sophie regard her as her own mother. Sophie wants to give her the mother's Day card. But a dutiful Atie would have none of it. She wants to save the younger generation from the political turmoil of Haiti. She wants Sophie to follow the Haitian tradition; a daughter should follow her mother, insisting her to go to her mother Martine, as she herself is going to her mother Ife as a duty to look after old mother. She is heartbroken by the treachery of Monsier Augustine, but hides it well. Till Sophie was with her, she refused to learn reading and writing, even inventing her own method of communication with her sister by exchanging cassettes, recording their own messages. But after Sophie's departure she not only learns reading, she starts maintaining notebook. She is heartbroken by the treachery of Louse who leaves her even without informing. She once again feels that she has been used for her company, her body, her presence, but was not loved actually. She feels that Sophie is the only person who did not betray her, and tells Sophie about how she has loved Sophie as her own child. But at the end she liberates herself in her own Haitian way. She shows her freedom by her alcoholism, going out at night, going to graveyard, doing things on her own, at her will. The character of Martine gives us different shades of human nature. She is true believer of her Haitian traditions. She cannot adjust her life after loosing her purity by rape. Martine's rape by an unknown man, possibly a Macoute, is the defining event in her life, bringing with it overpowering feelings of fear and self-loathing which she passes on to her daughter Sophie. The nightmare of loosing her purity haunts her all her life. She lives the agony of rape every night. Her daughter Sophie is a regular reminder of her rape, as she feels that the face of Sophie symbolizes that of the rapist. The American way of life gives her a new sense of freedom, but she is not ready to accept this newfound freedom. She herself is victim of 'testing', but puts her daughter Sophie also to same kind of torture. She is bound by her tradition. Her American way of life makes her sexual relationship out of marriage, but the guilt continues to haunt her. She is also a typical Haitian American. She wants Sophie to become doctor instead of secretary as she wanted to become one. She did not have any other choice except seeking freedom in death. However, throughout the novel Martine is presented as a sacrificial figure whose possessions by loneliness, trauma, disease, pregnancy, and a strained relationship with her daughter are anything but desirable. Like Haitian Goddess Erzulie, Martine is rife with contradictions as enforcer of virginity and sexual, fertile being. Martine is aware of her own conflicting positions, which torment her further. To the priestess, whom Sophie contacts for her Psychological treatment, Martine's tortures are symptoms of demons. In Haitian folklore, they are a sign that, as the story goes; God has given her "a piece of the sky to carry on her head." The protagonist Sophie is a product of transition. During early stages of her life she follows the traditional Haitian life as followed by her grandmother Ife and aunt Atie. In Atie she finds a mother. She does not want to go to her own mother in America. She wants to give the Mother's Day card to her aunty Atie. She is furious of forcing her to go to America. As she grows out of childhood, her awareness of men is set against Martine's implicit terror of them. In America she seeks freedom. Her first voice of protest comes in the form of her not following her mother's suggestion of becoming doctor. She seeks freedom by breaking her own hymen, the symbol of her purity and virginity. This act of her can be called as act of violence and simultaneously an act of liberation. She has liberated herself from the dreaded practice of 'testing'. The rape of her mother, the agony of her own birth creates a deep scar in her mind. The kind husband in the form of Joseph also cannot make her forget the agony. Her abhorrence to sex is the transformation of her loath of male generated subconsciously by her own past. In her Americanism Sophie seeks cure in Psychological therapy. The agony of all these women is symbolized by the trauma they face in sleep. Sleeplessness of these women is physical testament to their troubled life. By having a child with her mother's face, Sophie has managed to pay a generational debt Brigitte's family resemblance affirms Sophie's place in the family and confirms that she is her mother's daughter Hence watching her daughter Brigitte sleep peacefully, Sophie gets the feeling that her daughter's sleep is a sign of liberation from her mother's burdens, which Sophie has inherited from her mother Martine. Work cited Haitian Tradition, Ritual, and Religion in Breath, Eyes, Memory http://www.geocities.com/chadofborg/breatheyesmemoryvaudou.html Malliaris, Maryanthe. SparkNote on Breath, Eyes, Memory. 10 Dec. 2006 . Readinggroupguides.com http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/breath_eyes_memory.asp Read More