Analysis Of Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes And Memory

Women in Haitian culture preserve their purity for marriage. They practice being conservative to keep themselves pure for their husband in the future. The novel entitled Breath, Eyes, and Memory written by a Haitian writer, Edwidge Danticat that showed how women of Haiti live by their culture during the time when the writer wrote the novel. Edwidge Danticat, the writer of the novel, used the characters such as Sophie, Martine and Atie Caco to show the struggle that women face due to the conservative culture of Haiti. The author of the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory, Edwidge Danticat, can be seen in the protagonist of the novel, which is Sophie Caco. She was born in Haiti like Edwidge Danticat and her parents migrated and settled in Brooklyn,

Sophie’s face resembles the person who raped Martine as shown in the novel. “When I look at your face I think it is true what they say. A child out of wedlock always looks like its father.” Martine then constantly remembers when she attempted many times to commit suicide while she was pregnant with Sophie because of the constant reminder of the incident every time she sees her daughter. When Sophie had a relationship with their neighbor Joseph, a musician who was older than Sophie, even though her mom insisted that she should avoid men. Because her mother was very strict about having boyfriends, Sophie sneaked out to meet Joseph when her mom was on duty every night. She was really in love with Joseph because he was kind and respected Sophie for her own right. One night when Martine caught her daughter when Sophie got home late from a concert with Joseph, Martine was incredibly mad and disappointed that Sophie was lying to

When Martine Caco committed suicide because she cannot carry the baby anymore and by ending her life, it is also a form of setting herself free. After her funeral, Sophie went to the place where her mother got raped and she destroyed the sugar can with her hands. Sophie did this to release the pain and as an act of liberation. Sophie’s grandmother asked her after the funeral to ask if she was already liberated. “There is a place where women are buried in the colour of flames, where we drop coffee on the ground for those who went ahead, where a daughter is never fully a woman until her mother has passed on before her. There is always a place where, if you listen closely in the night, you will hear your mother telling a story, and at the end of the tale, she will ask you this question: “Ou libéré?” Are you free,my daughter? Now, you will know how to