Children of the Sea Analysis

          Danticat presents two narratives of events occurring analogously during the take over of a new regime in Haiti. A male character writes from a boat, escaping Haiti to Miami, as he was a wanted youth rebel. While his lover, writes to him sharing the events that occurred in mainland Haiti, including the atrocities committed by the regime’s soldiers and the suffering of the Haitian people. Both characters present a motif of impotence throughout their narratives, brought about the cleansing of their people, culture and history. They attempt to salvage the story of their people and retain hope by keeping diaries of the events, knowing they won’t ever be read.

            Throughout the many catastrophes occurring in his boat ride, the male character comes to acknowledge the cleansing of his people. This is seen when he states, “I must throw my book out now. It goes own to them, Celianne and her daughter and all those children of the sea who might soon be claiming me” (Danticat 27).  He acknowledges the impotence of the situation through this statement. He can’t do anything to save his people, as they just disappear one by one. The history of his people is forgotten as well, they are figuratively vanishing into the ocean, specifically the future generation of children that was supposed to carry the legacy of their ancestors. The last opportunity he had to save his people’s story was the notebook, yet that too has to be swallowed by the ocean.  This sheds light on a theme prevalent throughout Danticat’s short stories, a physical structure, specifically water is seen as a source of death and the erasure of history, contrary to the hope and life it represents.

Danticat, Edwidge. “Children of the Sea." Krik? Krak! New York: Vintage, 1996. 3-29. Print.

Davis Summary

        In this journal Davis analyzes Danticat’s Krik?Krak!, and how the oral narrative in her literature develops the identities of her characters, cultural and historical background.  The author portrays how Danticat’s application of the “short story cycle” allows her to present stories portraying the individuality of the characters yet at the same time presenting the community’s impact on the work. Davis states that the short story cycle allows Danticat’s work to be both independent and interdependent.

To analyze and present this concept to the audience Davis views the stories from Krik?Krak!, the themes, and subjects handled throughout them and presents other’s scholars opinion of the literature. Davis observes that Danticat’s work replicates storytelling, and through this storytelling Walter Ong argues she creates a sense of unity with her readers. Another expert, Sarah Hardy argues that Danticat’s spoken narratives and short story cycle allow for the creation of different stories with an analogous theme that immerge the reader in a Haitian story sharing tradition. Davis highlights that the immersion of factual events of Haitian history and traditions heals and maintains links of the present with the past. This can be seen in many stories, such as “Nineteen thirty-seven”, “Children of the Sea”, “A wall of Fire rising” and “Women Like US”, Davis argues. Throughout these stories Danticat presents the traditions of Haitians, such as verbal games. These verbal games entertained them in times of suffering, and portrayed how they were a unity, as only they knew those verbal games, as is the case in the interchange of word when Jacquelyne sees Josephine in “Nineteen Thirty-Seven”.  Another tradition that is kept in Danticat’s writing is that mother-daughter bond which collectivized linking all women together, Davis highlights. Due to the employment of the short story cycle recurring images and themes are presented, such as the butterfly, wish of flight/escape, and death of infants/innocence. These themes represent the historical facts and events of the Haitian people; they look for reconciliation after losing their identity and even after death.

Davis concludes that the short story cycle presented by Danticat unites the reader with Haitian history. Due to the repetition of themes and oral narrative the tribulations and plight of Haitians is clearly depicted as they attempt to transform and grow. This journal helps me understand how to execute a literary analysis in a different manner.

Pulitano Summary

             Pulitano explores the Caribbean Sea and landscape seen in Danticat’s stories, and how these should be considered a part of the Haitian culture, as they contain colonial history relating to their suffering and background.  The author presents this argument by looking at various of Danticat’s stories, such as “The farming Bones” , “Nineteen Thirty-Seven”, and “Children of the Sea”, and what literary experts have to say about them.

            The first story analyzed is “The Farming of Bones”. Pulitano views how the sugar cane landscape of Haiti and the Dominican Republic create a monument representing the history of the violent events that occurred in that area, what Danticat calls “uncomfortable spaces”.  These uncomfortable spaces emanate in the fact that the Haitian government turned their people in to slave labor of the sugar cane mills, in which they were abused. Through the events that occurred to the characters in “The Farming of Bones” Suarez believes that landscape and fictional stories serve as agents which restore the memories and stories of communities, at the same time healing their wounds and looking for future hope. When looking at “Children of the Sea” and “The Farming Bones” Glissant and Brathwaite conjecture that most of the Caribbean culture’s memory is implanted in the environment. Due to this fact Danticat’s genocide and ecocide stories present the history representing of the Caribbean archipelago. In the story “Nineteen Thirty-seven” Pulitano mentions that the Massacre River divides an island into two contrasting nations, collecting memories of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is where the massacre of Haitians occurred, an encounter between life and death, forever reminding the inhabitants of their background. Such as the case with Amabelle in “The Faming of Bones”, she attempts to eras the river from the landscape, as it is not visible during the night, yet the river won’t ever disappear, and its permanent existence reminds the inhabitants of their history. In “Children of the Sea” Pulitano suggests that the Caribbean sea reminds the characters of the events of the middle passage.

            Pulitano concludes that Danticat doesn’t talk about Haiti to portray a sense of nationalism, yet to remind her audience of a history that may have been hidden, providing hope to the survivors of the tragic events. I agree with what the author says, as the landscapes of the archipelago provide a permanent memory of the events that occurred. The way Pulitano executes this analysis relates to the literary analysis that is to be done in class, as it analyzes the author, similar themes in the author’s work, and contains a lot of scholarly citations.

Nineteen Thirty-Seven Analysis

         In the story “Nineteen Thirty-Seven” Edwidge Danticat presents Josephine, a Haitian girl who often visits her mother at the Port Au Prince prison. In the process of Josephine’s visits the reader comes to understand that pain surrounds her life. Not only does it surround her life, however, pain is a prominent factor in all of her contemporaries’ existence. The oppressed nature of Josephine, her mom, and the woman of the river cause them to create an artificial sense of hope for their life full of suffering.

Suffering seems to be a common component inherent of all Haitian women. This can be seen when Manman states “We were saved from the tomb of this river when she was still in my womb. You spared us both, her and me, from this river where I lost my mother” (Danticat, 40).  Josephine was born on the day of the massacre by El Generalissimo’s soldiers representing that she is birthed from pain, as a lot of Haitians died that day. One of those who died was Manman’s mother, in an effort to alleviate her pain Manman takes Josephine as a replacement of the existence of her mother. Not only does Josephine emanate from suffering yet she carries the connation of false hope, as life can’t be replaced. The effect of suffering is once again seen when Manman mentions “Keep the Madonna when I am gone…Maybe you will have some flesh to console you. But if you don’t, you will always have the Madonna” (Danticat, 43). Once again Josephine’s mom creates hope for her daughter. Given that pain surrounds her life, her mother hopes that Josephine can deal with her suffering in the same way that she dealt with her mom’s death. The aforementioned quotes emphasize the repetitive occurrence of yet different pain Haitian women particularly experience.

Danticat, Edwidge. "Nineteen Thirty-Seven." Krik? Krak! New York: Vintage, 1996. 33-49. Print.

The Toughest Indian in the World Analysis

               In this short story Sherman Alexie gives further insight towards the personality of the narrator. The text specifically views a continued tradition inherited from the narrator’s father, picking up Indian hitchhikers. The simple act carries many implications, particularly dealing with the narrator’s self-identity issues. Although in other stories of the collection, the narrator attempts to negate his Native American blood by exhibiting his successful anglo life style, he embraces it in the hitchhiking act exhibited in “The Toughest Indian in the World”.

            The narrator chooses to retain a tradition of his culture by picking up Indian hitchhikers. Through this custom he remains attached to his background, despite being told otherwise. His father reminds him that the salmon, the Spokane cultural symbol, has no hope, meaning that the culture’s identity has evaporated. This decay of cultural identity is once again exemplified through the warrior hitchhiker, who makes a living out of hurting his people.  The narrator’s interaction with the hitchhiker demonstrates that he is attempting to keep his culture alive. This can be seen when he mentions “I wanted to tell the fighter that I pick up all Indian hitchhikers, young and old, men and women, and get them a little closer to home, even if I can’t get them all the way” (Alexie 30). The narrator not only physically takes the passengers closer to home, yet figuratively he is attempting ot take them back to their roots, reminding himself where he came from.  At the end of his encounter with the fighter the narrator states “But I wanted him to save me…I smelled like salmon” (Alexie 32). The warrior is portrayed as a savior for the narrator, arousing the scent of salmon, the representation of hope for the Spokane people. The narrator fulfills the hitchhiking act to remain identified with his ethnic background despite the anglo lifestyle he pursues.

Alexie, Sherman. "The Toughest Indian in the World." The Toughest Indian in the World. New-York: Grove, 2000. 21-34. Print.