In class writing

In class writing
01/18/2017
During the speech of Danticat on MLK day, she started by a joke that comes from Krick? Krak!, which is “Why is it that when you lose something, it is always in the very last place you look?” “Because once you find it, you look no more.”
From what she say on that day, I learned how new immigrants think about the country where they come from. New immigrants are different from old immigrants, new immigrants go back to their own country and they do effort for their country, just like what Danticat does. She talks about Martin Luther King's speech about War in Vietnam, which she describes as a special speech. She also mentions many other immigrant writers like Amy Tan and what similarities they have. As immigrant writers, they all have conflicts with their family and the new country where they goes. There are many immigrant elements in the book that we are reading now, like the boy in the first story escapes to Miami, the New York day Women who comes from Haiti, and Caroline’s wedding that shows the conflict between an Haitian American girl and her traditional Haitian mother. After listening to her speech, it makes me understand more about her love to Haiti and the reason why she writes this book.

Books are not just articles about your own experience, it is more about the world and cultures. 

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.

In class writing

The writer uses a magical tone to tell this story in which she uses a lot of words of "angels" and "star". The night woman, whose husband is dead and she needs to do her job at night when her son sleeps. The reason why I think why she uses this kind of tone is to make her and her son not that desperate. Their life is already hard enough, through using this kind of magical style to tell her son about love, she and her son can blind them selves and and pretend they are living in a place where there are angels. This kind of tone is really special, which makes me think of another reason: she doesn't want her son to grow up, since her son is the only hope she has. Everyone left her and she becomes the kind of women who sleeps with men who has husband. She puts her whole love on her son and tries her best to not letting him see the dark side of the world. Once her son grows up, he will realize what kind of job her mom has and know that all those stories her mom told him was not true. Maybe he will leave her and then she doesn't has any hope left.
The character of this story's narrator gives me a feeling of Lili. Lili's husband died, and she is not a strong enough woman. Under the gender threatening at that time, even a man like Guy can't find a job, there is no way for Lili to have a honorable job with good salary. Also, the more magical the night woman use when she tells her son stories, the more desperate her son will be when he realize the truce. If this night woman is Lili,  then it explains why in "Between the Pool and the Gardenias", Lili were said to be suicide and her son left her to Miami.

Reading notes

Blog Post #6

One common theme in all these three stories is Freedom. Every one is chasing freedom. They, especially those poor people who have great dreams, were forced to leave their country, their lovers, and their families under the threat of war. Each story has an object that represents the word, Freedom. For the first story, it is butterfly. For the second is women who practice voodoo were believed can fly, and the third is hot balloon. All these three objects can fly. It is like a symbol of thing that people are all chasing, but are also always out of reach.

These three families in these stories seem to have no connection with each other. However, they are all pinned down by their country, government, and prejudice. The only difference they have is they make different choice when facing these problems. Some jumps out from hot balloon, some take his family and go away to another land, and the others have no choice. Just like Josephine’s mom, no matter she is framed or she meant to kill that little boy, her death gives her freedom. She no longer needs to be tortured in prison and listens to other’s blame. Spineless Guy uses suicide to get freedom. His envy to his wife, his boss, and his son eventually causes his death. He has dreams and capability, but he has no place to express. Even his wife has doubted if he could really ride a hot balloon by him self. Guy doesn’t want to be as poor as his father, but he has no way to find a better job than scrub the latrines after unemployed for six moths. He dreams to be a person like Boukman, but he forgets, Boukman fights for freedom rather than escapes. In the first story, the girl’s family doesn’t fight for freedom, but it doesn’t mean they are all cowards. When they are facing their neighbor being killed, none of them really helped her even though they had this thought. They are protecting their self and their whole family. They buy gasoline, pretend subject to government, and try all the way to protect the family. In other words, the girl’s family is the only one, in these three stories, who did something to get freedom.

The reason I think for why Danticat use the theme of freedom is to make people remember that period of the history in Haiti. She raises the voice of people who are like the characters in these three stories. They have dream, they have ability, and they have family. But under oppression of reality, they tend to give up their dream. Also, these three stories make readers see what choices different person may makes while they are facing difficulties. Readers would also consider what kind of people themselves is. As Danticat said: “We need literature because we wouldn’t know ourselves without it. We need goo literature to be fully human.” On the other hand, Danticat her self experienced that period of history and she clearly knows people’s desperation and their desire of freedom. These three stories might be a translation of her experiences, which makes the book not only about stories but more like a memoir.

People are born to chase freedom. Especially in war, freedom becomes a more precious gift. Without power, speech, and money, freedom is always an unreachable dream. There are so many people’s great talent was covered under the darkness of war, like the boy in Children of the sea and Guy. After experiencing desperation and suffering, death is no longer a painful process any more. It becomes the antidote of saving them from misery.

Notes

0104 In class writing

In the book, not every Haitian are the same. Some support for the president, some are over radical, and some suffer from the war. In the book, many people were forced to suicid or leave their country. Like the writer's family, they were afraid of death, so they can just see their neighbor got killed and could do nothing to help her. Writer's friend/lover who left Haiti and might dead in the see is also a victim of the war. It is unfair to say those inhuman people who started the war are the same as those who suffered.

Many people, especially the poor, who want to protect their family during the war suffer the most. Like the writer's parents and her lover. Her lover passed the university exam, but he couldn't go to school because he has to escape from the war. Her father gives up all his property to save his daughter. Her mother were accused to kill her friend's baby then went to prison. These people had extraordinary dream, but were stopped by the were.