Lit and Performance

Question 1:  In what ways is the story of Caroline's Wedding similar to the epilogue? The role of the woman has been discussed throughout the book. The conflict between the tradition of Haitian women and desire of education and equality is explored by Edwidge Danticat particularly deep in the story ‘Caroline’s wedding’ and the epilogue. The theme of struggle has especially empathized in these two stories, which is the similarity between the two. Grace as the support of the family has been struggling to find her true identity throughout the story. At the end of the story when she is helping her mother to cook the soup and ask her mother about her future, it shows that she is still questioning herself as either a Haitian or American. Her mother, on the other hand, insists that she will live the Haitian way. The story ends there, but the problem is not solved. In the epilogue, the author reiterates the view of traditional Haitian women, she says ‘always use your ten fingers, which i...

- as a woman who experienced the struggle of defining your identity ( Haitian or American), what advice would Edwidge Danticat give to other children who are experiencing the same struggle. - will Suzette tell her mother the fact that she saw her, or will she keep this secret and find out why her mother is doing it? - in the story of ‘between the pool and the gardenias’ what happened after the pool guy called the police? Would Marie get killed? Or will the police believe that she did not kill the baby? - will the night woman keep being a prostitute in order to let her son finish his education, or will she switch to another profession for her dignity?

Character: Narrator- possibly Edwidge Danticat Plot: the narrator discusses how she looks like her mother and her mother looks like her grandmother... All these women are born to learn how to cook and they are all forbidden from picking up a pen and start writing because, from their perspectives, writing will not make them better and might bring them to death. However, the narrator chooses to write instead so that she can use stories to keep her ancestors alive and remembered just like how she accomplished it by writing Krik Krak. Personal response: This narration of Edwidge Danticat's view of the Haitian woman history expresses the prejudiced view that women are not supposed to learn how to write and are only born to cook and be the role of a mother. The repetition of saying 'You remember thinking while braiding your hair that you look a lot like your mother and her mother before her.' emphasizes how the tradition of Haitian women will continue. However, Edwidge Dantic...

Characters The mother- a traditional Haitian woman Caroline- she views herself as American and wants to marry Eric desperately Grace- Loves her family, the support of her family. Eric- Caroline's lover, he is not from Haiti The dead father-who married a widow later on in order to get his family to the U.S, then died because of cancer. Plot  Caroline, Grace's sister, is fall in love with Eric who is not from Haiti. However, their mother is not willing to let her daughter marry Eric since first he is not Haitian, second, their father just passed away due to cancer. Grace's family just moved to America because of their father who married a widow in order to get his family to the U.S. Caroline rebels her mother and eventually marries Eric. At Caroline's wedding,  Grace is upset because she knows that because Caroline is now married, she will not be as close to her family as she did before, and Caroline is nervous too, but then her mother placates her. The sto...

Though both stories discuss the situation of Haitian women, there are some differences and similarities between the two stories that are needed to be mentioned. First, two stories are told from different perspectives. In the Night Woman, the story is based on the mother's perspective (first person). On the other hand, in the New York Day Woman, the perspective is from Suzzete but sometimes switches to her mother's lines from the past.  To sum up, the Night Woman is more similar to a monologue and the New York Day Woman is more like a dialogue or a conversation between Suzzete and the recall of her mother's voice. Secondly, the tones of the two stories are different. In the Night Woman, the tone is depressing and dark since the mother is ashamed of her job and worried about the fact that her son will, one day, know her profession as a prostitute. On the other hand, In the New York Day Woman, the tone relatively less depressing and at a slow pace. The story goes smoothly as S...

Characters: Suzette and her 59 years plot: Suzette accidentally sees her mother, who never walks out of Brooklyn, walking toward a rich neighborhood. Therefore, she follows her mother all the way to a park where there are lots of children and mothers playing and chatting there. On her to the rich neighborhood, Suzette mentions some memories of her mother, such as watching but not buying lottery, mentioning about giving the seat to a pregnant woman on the bus, and discussing how different the drivers in Haiti treat people who get hit by them. Then she sees her mother takes care of a child, whose mother wears a sports cloth. Suzette spots a weird relationship between the child and her mother. Then, after her mother leaves, she wonders if her mother sees her or not. Personal response: this story is full of confusion and suspense because the author does not give a clear indication of the whole storyline and the background story. I believe that the main purpose of this story is to tell ...

Notes: Poetry, unlike other forms of literature, can explore the nature and the nature of human beings. Poetry reflects the heart and soul of people. Poetry offers truths based on intuition, a keen eye, and the tumultuous experiences of the poet The charm of language is that it can on rare occasions capture emotions and sensations that aren’t. Question: When you are creating poetry, how do you manage to make the poem poetic and at the same time scientific? When you are trying to find the link between science and poetry,  what are your resources and where do you get your inspiration?

Main characters Marie: based on the description, she is the child of Josephine. Her husband cheated on her and then abandoned her. She also had a miscarriage. Rose: a dead baby who was brought home by Marie. Dominican pool cleaner: a pool cleaner who works for the same household with Marie. He slept with Marie once, but then never talked to her again. He then found out about Rose and called the police because he thought Marie was a witch. Plot  Marie is attracted by the dead baby on the street because the baby reminds her of her own baby, who was dead due to miscarriage. Therefore, Marie brings the baby back to her house (she works for a household as a maid), and she names the baby Rose and tells her about her past. She tells Rose about how her husband cheated on her and abandoned her, and also she slept with a Dominican pool cleaner who comes to clean the pool frequently. However, because the baby is dead, there is a sensitive smell from Rose, which is described b...

In today's performances, there were lots of impressive strategies and designs that were interesting. All four groups had something special that truly impressed me. First of all, Ivan and Jacob's group did a monologue of the night woman, which Ivan used more body language and Jacob used his change in tone to show their emotions. Ivan's vivid body language shows how careful the night woman is when she is taking care of her child. Jacob, on the other hand, uses his deep voice to show the night woman's depressing emotion. Secondly, Nia and Jack’s group developed more on the story after Guy dies. They did a conversation between Lili and Guy(died and became an angel). What was interesting was that Lili became a night woman after Guy dies. They combined two stories into one smoothly, which was impressive. Their performance tells what happens after Guy dies, which ends the story of Guy’s family completely. For Jasmine and Lesley’s group, they did a dialogue between Celianne an...

Who I am? The character I chose is the night woman. She is 25 years old with one child, whose father left the family after the child was born. Her job is a prostitute, instead of working during the daytime, being a prostitute makes more money. She has a son who is around eight years old, and he is the only support for her. She tries not to let her son know her job so that she keeps telling him the stories of the angel and his father comes back only at night. However, she knows that there will be one day her son realizes the truth, and she is afraid of this day coming.  What time is it?  Though the time is not given clearly, it can be reasonably predicted that it is around the Haitian republic first formed. Where am I? the character is in Haiti Ville Rose, which is a place full of poverty and starvation. She has a single room with her child, and she also has a neighbour who seems to have problem of poverty too. What surrounds me? The main setting is the dim...

In both stories ‘children of the sea’ and ‘night woman’ present the theme of love. Under the danger of war and poverty, the only thing that did not change was the role of mother that loves their children. Ceilianne as a young mother does not want to give up her child who was just born. When she was forced to do so, right after she threw her child overboard, she followed. The quote says ‘I watched her face knot up like a thread.’. This perfectly emphasizes the hopelessness of the mother who loves her child so much but cannot do anything, which specifically shows her hopeless emotion. The second story ‘night woman’ also presents the love given by a mother who is a prostitute. When she is describing the appearance of her son,the language is soft and beautiful. By contrast, her description of the society is dark and hopelessness. Her only motivation is her son that she hopes he can have a good education. Edwidge Danticat wants to show the readers that though the role of mother and the love...

When she is having a conversation with Emmanuel, Emmanuel tells her that his wife is not as beautiful as she is, how would she feel when Emmanuel says that and does she feel guilty since Emmanuel is cheating on his wife?

Children of the Sea Plot: two narrators who don't know each other are in love. The girl is angry at the fact that her father does not let her keep writing letters to her lover. However, she does not know that her father gave up all his properties to save her daughter from the danger of Macoutes (A military force created by Papa Doc). The female narrators heard the news that their neighbor was killed by the Macoutes. The male narrator tries to escape Haiti by using a boat. In his boat, there is also a pregnant woman who was raped by Macoutes. When her baby died, she suicides too. A few days later when the female narrator sees a black butterfly, it foreshadows that the male narrator is dead. Characters: the Male narrator                    Female narrator                    Female narrator's father                    C...

Under the threat of Papa Doc and the brutality of other countries, Haitians suffered more than we can ever imagine. The first three stories of Krik? Krak! perfectly present the theme of hopelessness by using the description of characters’ actions and describing people’s emotion turmoil. While facing the dangers that they can not avoid, there is so little people can do. All three stories ended with a tragedy, which “children of the sea” introduces how two lovers are secretly in touch, but due to the threat of Papa Doc, the male narrator fled from Haiti. However, the boat sank due to the attack by the soldiers. “Nineteen Thirty-seven” talked about how narrator’s mother was claimed as a witch due to the death of a baby she was taking care of. Her mother was imprisoned in a bad condition, and eventually died, which was foreshadowed by the cry of Madonna. The third story “A wall of fire rising” narrates a family of three, how the child has been learning lines of a revolutionary play and hi...