Blog post#8

All Characters in Krik? Krak! have a really tight relationship with the author, Danticat. As a new American immigrant who comes from Haiti, she writes her own experience inside the stories from different narrator’s words. In her book, the stories she tells are not only anecdote, but also the untold history.

There are many characters in this book and each of them are related to each other. Their relationship is more then relatives, they are the miniature of Danticat’s memories, and the miniature of a period of history. She tells stories that she heard from her mom when she “sit in the corners and braid hair”. The silent words were telling by generation through each pin of hair. These stories are not just someone’s experience. They are about love, about Haitian’s painful life under war, about social phenomenon, and parents love to their kids.

“Krik? Krak!” is what Hatians say before they tell stories. As in the Epilogue says: “You hear this scraping from her. Krik? Krak! Pencil, paper. It sounds like someone crying.” Women in Haiti are staying in the lowest class in their society. They are like the accessory of men. Without enough education, they are not able to get a job with good salary. In the vicious cycle of oppressing the statue of women, they change from being oppressing by men to oppressing other women. They educate their daughters to not enjoy their sex after married and not to write books. As Danticat’s mom said: "With scribbles on paper that are not worth the scratch of a pig's snout. The sacrifices had been too great" Many women before Danticat are just like her mom. They take care of the family, clean the house, feed the kids, and watch their husbands sleep with prostitute. Just like the day women in the Night Women who ruin things they made during the day and start over again on the next day. Their lives have been stupor. However, a common appearance is that they all sacrifice them selves to give their children a better future. Not only the day women do, but also the night women, as mother, they would always rather ruin their own reputation. This secretly but greatly love is fully manifested under Danticat’s writing.

For those weak Haitian women, kitchen is their heaven, but for Danticat, pencil is her weapon. She gets out of the fetter for women, and writes down the truth. Even though she is unacceptable in her country, she is the icon of women’s self-liberation. Through her words, the darkness of history was revealed. Women, children, immigrants, and all those poor Haitians hard life are shown in front of us. Danticat’s present accomplishment is based on many previous women’s work: “There are nine hundred and ninety-nine women who went before you and worked their fingers to coconut rind so you can stand here before me holding that torn old notebook that you cradled against your breast like your prettiest Sunday braids.” Their sacrifice is known by the world outside through author’s stories; their sacrifice will never be forgotten.