Day woman and night woman comparison

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 Suzzte follows her mother. It only goes a little depressing when Suzzete sees her mother staying with another child and having fun, the sense of jealousy comes up.

However, there are some similarities between the two stories. First of all, in both stories, the mothers are ashamed of their professions. the night woman is ashamed since she is a prostitute and upset at the fact that her son will one day feel ashamed of her too. In the New York Day Woman, the mother is ashamed of her profession and identity too, which can be shown when Suzzete mentions that her mother never went to any teacher-parents conferences because she could not speak good English and the fact that she is just a nanny. What is also similar is the fact that both mothers love their children deeply. One is a prostitute whose only hope is her son and will keep support his education in order to get a better future. The other one made a tough decision of moving to the U.S (a totally strange place) and is unable to go back to Haiti for the funerals of their relatives, and also is forced to work as a nanny since she is not well-educated enough to get a decent job. The New York Day Woman is kind of like a reflection of Edwidge Danticat's early childhood who did not understand why her family needs to work so hard to move to the U.S.

There are some differences between the women living in the two different countries. Women living in New York have more freedom and choose what they want to do, but at the same time have a limited variety of choices due to their lack of knowledge and can't speak good English. Women living in Haiti is even worse due to the traditional view of women, they are only viewed as a role of mothers who only need to take care of their children. The woman's gender role in this book transitions dramatically, from being the lowest and the least respected group to the moderate but still not as successful as other women and men.

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