Summary Of Edwidge Danticat's 'Ghosts'

In Ghosts by Edwidge Danticat, the main character, Pascal, learns about how unjust the world is. After having his idea for a radio show stolen from him, one of his acquaintances, Tiye, ordered the shooting of the radio station which it aired on. Because of this, Pascal was blamed for the ordering of the shooting, and was beaten by the police for information on the gang that did it: the Baz Benin. Pascal learns that the world can be a truly unjust place to live in, and that people’s judgement of a situation will inevitably lead to injustice being served.

Towards the beginning of the story, Pascal has an idea for a radio show where gang members and business leaders try to come to a peaceful agreement. Eventually, his idea gets stolen, and his friend who tried to stand up for him was fired for doing so. It also seems that Pascal will be fired as well. Tiye overhears this conversation, so he and his gang started

chanting about how unjust that was, and how they must seek revenge. Pascal feels like he has just been slapped in the face; a good idea that he had actually got picked up by a station, but some other thief would get the money he deserved. Despite this, Pascal remains relatively calm and says that he would rather work on a more personal project anyway.

While Pascal is unhappy, but overall calm about having his idea stolen from him, Tiye was not as calm. Tiye sent some of his men to the radio station and opened fire- killing one of the guards. Tiye gets caught and claims that Pascal was the mastermind- that he hired Tiye to shoot up the radio station. Tiye betrays Pascal. Not only did his gang kill a man without anyone telling them to, but he told the police that Pascal was the man behind it all. Before Pascal even knows that all this has happened, the police raid his home while he is sleeping, and he wakes up to an intense beating from the police. Even though Pascal was in no way related to what happened at the police station, they continue to beat and question him, even though they have no real evidence that he was involved. It eventually become clear to Pascal that he has been framed, and there is no way that he can convince them otherwise. Pascal sees that there are times when people will just refuse to believe the truth, and instead of searching for the real truth, will pursue a lie because it is easier to find. Because the police would rather believe the lies of Tiye, not questioning whether he has anything to gain from lying, instead of finding more concrete evidence, they just believe what he says. It almost makes the police like Tiye’s gang members, believing what he says and following his orders. Pascal learns that someone who can manipulate people like that can lead anyone to do anything, no matter how unjust it would seem to a third party.

The police clearly do not have great judgement.

They act quickly and aggressively without thinking. Once they arrest Tiye, he tells them that Pascal, an innocent man, was the person who ordered the attack on the radio station. While it makes sense for them to investigate Pascal, now that he is connected to the case, they do not think clearly about the most just way to go about it. Instead of just interrogating Pascal, they raid his home in the middle of the night and torture him. Before they even knew he was guilty, before they knew if he was even involved, they tortured him until he told them what they wanted to hear. Their lack of good judgement was the cause of the most harmful act of injustice in the story- Tiye’s treachery. Because they blindly believed the word of a known criminal and gang leader, a man innocent of any wrongdoing was beaten. Tiye also used bad judgement. Pascal was unhappy about his idea being stolen, but he clearly did not want a man to die over it. Tiye’s lack of Judgement cost a man his life, and led to Pascal being

tortured.

Pascal learns that when people use bad judgement and look for the “truth” that is easiest to digest, instead of the truth that allows justice, innocent people will get hurt. What started as his idea being stolen and his friend losing his job turned into him being tortured by the police because a criminal framed him for the planning of the attack on the radio station. Injustice is inevitable when people are unable to think about their actions before they fulfill those actions.