The second half of Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker told darker stories of those who survived the torture from the dew breaker. It shows the different attempts that they have made to cope with their past. They all started with the same first step: leaving Haiti. Some led a better life in America, while others let their nightmares take over. No one, not even the dew breaker could forget what happened in Haiti. Garvey Lundy also wrote his paper “Transnationalism in the Aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake” about the diaspora that the Papa and Baby Doc regimes caused how they react to trouble back home.
Beatrice is an unfortunate case where the scars from Haiti are forever stuck in her brain and she can never let go of what has been done to her. Her illusions of pain are something that Aline was an unfortunate witness to, but most importantly she was left with the important message of “ everything happens when it is meant to happen.” It is a way of coping with the past and to keep on going in hopes of something good to happen. Beatrice has helped so many brides because she was able to come to America, and maybe that is why she had to go through torture by the dew breaker, to end up in the path that life took her.
The final chapter was the most intense out of all of them. The way Anne and the dew breaker met was so crazy. The fact that they got married just blew my mind. From the dew breaker’s point of view, I understand. This is his best chance of getting out of being a dew breaker. Getting married with Anne also means he will constantly be reminded of the pain and suffering that he has caused. It wouldn’t be to the extreme that Beatrice went through, but it would be enough to deter him from going back. The fact that they had a child gave a reason and an opportunity to make amends by raising her right. It makes more sense when their relationship is taken as a symbol of the relationship between the Haitian people and destructive authoritative figures. In the end all they have is each other, the only way that Haiti can get better is if they work together. The new generation needs both to understand the mistakes of their predecessors so that they don’t repeat history.
Garvey Lundey’s article was pretty depressing. Imagining that one’s home nation was viewed world wide as a center of disaster is disheartening. Gaining self-determination did not mend the infrastructural damages of the nation as fast as its people would have wanted. The Haitian diaspora caused by Papa and Baby Doc also gave a bad image. Being one of the “four h’s” that were at risk of AIDS also screwed over the Haitian image. When they needed help the most, they just kept getting put down. Until the catastrophic earthquake, there weren’t many Haitians proud of calling themselves Haitian. It put transnational ties to use, reinvigorated national pride, and put all migrant Haitians towards one cause. Even the second-generation, American-born Haitians took pride in their roots. Unfortunately, their parents shut them down. It is understandable, since the parents were probably once at a point where they had a high level of nationalist pride before they were shut down. They fled Haiti for that reason among others. Haitians living in the native land don’t want them to influence local politics, yet they believe that those abroad don’t do enough to rebuild Haiti. Fortunately there are some parents who support their children. The youth themselves seem to not be backing down despite the harsh words from their parents. They are very determined to turn Haiti into the beauty that they imagine it as. The revitalization of Haiti depends on this movement.
