Analysis Of The Trauma Of Caco Women

Some of the trauma that is attributed to the Caco women in Breathe, Eyes, Memory stems from Haitian history, particularly the rape of Martine by a Tonton Macoute soldier and the trauma of slavery that the older generation share. On the narrative level, as the story progresses we can see accurate historical events happening in the background such as when Sophie is leaving for New York and there are revolts happening against Francois Duvalier and when a Tonton Macoute kills market vendor Dessalines. Haiti is a nation formed by former slaves and was the first country that was granted its independence through slave revolts. During slavery to be considered white or light skinned enough to pass as white was seen as the crème de la crème and gave

In her book Trauma and Experiences Cathy Caruth discusses that trauma is not something that is experienced when the event first happens, but instead it is something that occurs only after the traumatic even has come and gone. She writes “The historical power of trauma is not just that the experience is repeated after its forgetting, but that it is only in and through its inherent forgetting that it is first experienced at all. (Caruth, 8). While a person undergoes a traumatic event the trauma is not only associated with the event but also to the recollection of the event. The Caco women in Breathe, Eyes, Memory undergo both traumatic events but also trauma through the recollection of these

These ideals of how the women should be and behave constantly changes throughout time, therefore making it impossible for the women to meet expectations. The ideas of sexuality in the postcolonial context in Haiti stem from the Vaudo religion. Erzulie “the lavish Virgin Mother” (Danticat, 80) is a deity that is very important to the Caco women. Erzulie is used a form of patriarchal power over these women that they turn internalize and perpetuate. Gerda Lerner in her text The Creation of Patriarchy defines patriarchy as “the manifestation and institutionalization of male dominance over women and children in the family and the extension of male dominance over women in society in general” (Lerner, 239). The men hold all the power over the women and it is they who decide which women are worthy and which ones are not. They do this by insisting that their women stay virgins “Haitian men, they insist that their women are virgins and have their ten toes” (Danticat, 189). They insist on this virgin ideal and it is upheld, the women have no control over their own