Blog post #7

In the history of this world, the role of women is always changing. There are some places still having patriarchal society, the other places’ women have realized the importance of being treated equal. The comparison between Haitian women and American women is obvious and worth thinking deeply.

The story Night women describe a Haitian woman’s life whose husband has died and live with her son. Her job is prostitute. With her slender salary，she sacrifices her self in order to give her son a better future. Women in this story are born to be accessories of men. They live the same life everyday: “…there are women whose it up through the night and undo patches of cloth that they have spent the whole day weaving.” However, their husbands’ hearts no longer belong to them: “the lifeless soul of a man whose scent still linger in another woman’s bed.” Without their husband, their lives have no meaning. As the night woman does, she has a great hope for her son. She creates a magical dream where there are full of angels and stars to blind her son from seeing this ugly, dangerous world. There is another really important point is that compare with job of women, men’s jobs are in a higher level: Emmanuel is a doctor, and Alexandre is an accordion player. When women are working as prostitutes and piece workers, men are highly educated so that they can get a better job and higher salary then women. In this way, patriarchal society is once again being consolidates. The same phenomenon is also shown in the story Children of the Sea and A Wall of fire Rising. In the first story, the boy has the freedom to do what he wants, which is fighting against government. He can also get education, which he passes university exam. However, girls are not that lucky. They are the victims of war: Célianne is forced to get pregnant even though she is only fifteen years old, and the girl whose in love with the boy never got a chance to go to university. Her fate is be arranged by her father already: marrying a guy who she can relies on. There are no right, no opportunity to be educated and no discourse in girls’ families. Under the society like Haiti, women are all being like housewife who takes care of their husbands and children’s accommodation, and they bear the betrayal of their husbands but can do nothing.

On the contrary, American women’s lives are so much different. Despite American’s economy is better and safer then in Haiti, women do live a better life in America. Day women in America are different from those piece workers in Haiti. American women are independent. They their own time to enjoy life, also their role in the society is higher. In the story Caroline’s Wedding, Caroline has a big divergence with her mom on her wedding problem. Her mom, as a traditional Haiti woman, has lived in a male superiority society for many years. However, Caroline was born in America, grow up in America, and been taught by American culture, which is women are independent. Cooking is a work for only women, writing is not a humiliating thing, and women can choose whom they get merry with without their parents’ promotion. In Caroline’s mother’s eye, she is shamed of her daughter marrying a men who is not from Haiti. She also views Eric as a guy who steals her daughter. Because of these reasons, she doesn’t invite any of her relevant in America come to her beloved daughter’s wedding shower. Despite American women are more independent, they have the chance to be educated. Caroline and Eric meet at Jackie Robinson Intermediate School where she teaches English to Haitian students. She reserves enough knowledge to not only be educated but also teach others. Compare with Lili and Guy’s family structure, Caroline is the one who has a better job and probably earns a higher salary since Eric is just a janitor. The relationship between women also changed. Caroline and her mom’s relationship are not like what her mom and her grandma’s relationship look like. Caroline rebels what her mom forces her to do, like marrying in traditional Haitian way, or marry to an unfamiliar guy whose father gives letter to her mom. The class inside one family is more equal in America then in Haiti. Caroline does not belong and no need listen to any one, neither her mom nor her husband. She is a real independent human.

However, there is a similarity between American women and Haitian women that is their love to children as a mother. No matter how poor they are, mothers always give their best to their children. Even if some are not enough educated, they gives what they think is best to their children. Just like the night women, Lili, Caroline’s mom, and the New York day woman, they think about their children all the time, gives all they have, and takes a really good care of it. Love from parents has no boundaries.