This week’s readings were very intriguing and captivating in my opinion. I loved reading Danticat’s The Dew Breaker and the article about Haiti. Although as we said in class, it was a very sad book with no hope given, it was rich in religious symbolism (something that interests me a lot). I also admire Danticat’s unique writing style and use of literary features to enhance the reader’s experience. Her book was made up of a bunch of stories that together allow the reader to see the Dew Breaker from different perspectives and walks of life. Danticat is extremely creative. I disagree with those who said they did not like her. The second half of the book was the most interesting and climactic in my opinion. In “The Bridal Seamstress,” the reader gets to know about Beatrice Saint Fort’s life on the day right before she retires. She is interviewed by Aline for an article about her job as a Bridal Seamstress. This interview is very unique in that Aline does not receive straightforward answers from the bridal seamstress. Although technically Aline is the interviewer, it can be said that Beatrice interviews her as well when Beatrice asks her personal questions, causing Aline to reveal details of her life through inner thoughts. Beatrice also makes Aline go outside of the house with her to observe the block she lives on. It is during this mini tour that Beatrice reveals that an ex-prison guard lives on the block and that she would recognize him anywhere. Observing the tension and nervousness in Beatrice’s voice, Aline realizes that this man must have played a very important role in Beatrice’s life. Aline begins to wonder whether or not this guy was an ex-boyfriend or something along those lines. However, as readers we know that the prison guard is the Dew Breaker, who has made the lives of many people miserable. The story ends with Aline contemplating what she will do next in her life. She carries her own cross as well: not married, rejected by parents, feels like failure. Initially, I was quite annoyed with Beatrice because she did not answer Aline’s questions in a direct manner and acted in a very rude way towards Aline. However, when I found out that she suffered under the Dew Breaker, I felt pity for her.
The next story, “Monkey Tails,” revolves around Michel’s life. It starts out with him reflecting on his past next to his sleeping pregnant wife. He reveals his sufferings in Haiti when Jean-Claude Duvalier went into exile in France. As a young adult, Michel and his mother saw the chaos that broke out in Haiti after Duvalier left. Everyone went after the dew breakers, aka macoutes. After helping Monsieur Christophe with his broken water station faucet situation, he goes to visit Romain. Romain’s father is a macoute, who leaves Haiti so that he won’t be killed. Romain is impacted by this action because he feels unloved. So in the end Romain escapes as well, leaving Michel behind. Towards the end of the story we learn that Romain’s dad committed suicide. This story reveals the suffering, chaos and the disorders that many people suffered from due to the situation of their homeland. This story made me aware of the effect surroundings can have on a person’s life.
“The Funeral Singer” is about the lives of Freda, Mariselle and Rezia. All three of them are seeking to obtain a GED. Freda, the narrator, used to be a funeral singer who had to flee from her homeland after she refused to sing for the president. Mariselle left Haiti because her husband was shot for painting an unflattering portrait of Haiti’s president. Rezia owns a Haitian restaurant in the city and tells her friends of when she was raped by a macoute with the consent of her aunt. The lives of these three young women are very upsetting to read about, however they reveal the reality that not everything in life is a walk through the park. People carry many sufferings and go through many terrible experiences in life. This situation is much more prevalent with immigrants due to their position in society. I am not saying that others do not go through bitter moments in life, but I have seen that most immigrants have had unpleasant experiences similar to those of these three young women. This story also demonstrates that the goal of every human being is to make progress in life, to make life better. All the characters in this story and the rest of the book long to make their lives better and to leave the past behind. However, it is hard to forget about the past.
The last story, “The Dew Breaker (circa 1967)” puts the missing pieces of the book together. It reveals the previous lifestyle of the Dew Breaker as a prison guard. It starts out with him going to Bel-Air in search of a Baptist preacher who says bad things about the Haitian government. The Dew Breaker has thought about leaving the country but he wanted to go through with this order before his leaving. In this same story, we see things from the Baptist preacher’s point of view as well. We learn that his wife was poisoned and that many people do not like him or fear for his life due to the nature of his sermons and announcements. He seems to be completely against the Haitian government and wants his opinion to be heard loud and clear by everyone in the area. We also learn that the Dew Breaker decided to become a dew breaker so that he would not work in the fields like his parents. We also find out that the preacher has a stepsister, Anne. Anne is the Dew Breaker’s current wife. When I finally made the connection, I was surprised by how much mercy this woman had for the Dew Breaker. Had I been her, I would have killed him once I found out. But anyways during one of the preacher’s sermons, the Dew Breaker breaks into the church and brings with him a group of macoutes who take the preacher and beat him up pretty bad. However, after bringing the preacher back to the headquarters, he learns from his superior that he did wrong and has to release the preacher because the preacher’s offenses are not that bad. So he brings the preacher in to his office for questioning. The preacher, out of desperation, takes a broken piece of the chair and stabs the Dew Breaker’s check, dragging it down towards his chin, creating a huge, disgusting, deep wound. This causes the Dew Breaker to shoot the preacher several times. After having disobeyed his superior twice, the Dew Breaker decides to escape and runs with no sense of direction out of the headquarters. On his way he meets, Anne, who had been looking for the preacher. Anne ends up taking the Dew Breaker to his house, cares for him and ends up living with him. She and him eventually flee to the United States together. The story ends with Ka asking Anne if there is more to her father’s story.
“The Dew Breaker (circa 1967)” was a very crucial part of the book. In it we learn why the Dew Breaker became a prison guard, his inner thoughts, his guilt and contempt, and his yearning to redeem himself. We see that he gives a little boy some money as a way to buy him a future. Although as Patrick said, dew breakers are often portrayed like boogeymen, this particular dew breaker seems to have a gentle and noble side that if worked on properly can make him blossom into a kind and redeemed gentleman. So seeing that the Dew Breaker does have a noble side to him and knowing that later on he becomes a father and cares for both his wife and daughter leads me to question whether he wanted to be a dew breaker in the first place or if he was “forced” into becoming one due to his circumstances. A person just cannot be evil to be evil. As I mentioned before, this book is one of the best books I have read thus far. It was definitely more interesting and unique than the other two we have read this semester. I truly enjoyed the writing style.
In “Transnationalism in the Aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake: Reinforcing Ties and Second Generation Identity,” Lundy discusses the response of the Haitian diaspora to the earthquake on January 12, 2010. Lundy mentions how Haitians living outside of their homeland are shown to make use of political, economic , and communication ties to help their family back home. This article also investigates the impact of the earthquake on the identity of the second generation. The Haitian diaspora were deeply affected by the earthquake. Three fifths lost a loved one and two thirds wanted to move back to help reconstruct their nation. Lundy discusses transnationalism in detail, defining it as the process by which immigrants foster a multi-layered relationship that actively binds them to their country of origin while they are simultaneously fully involved in the social activities of their country of settlement. Lundy mentions that there are six interpretations of transnationalism: social morphology, type of consciousness, modes of cultural reproduction, avenue of capital, sites of political engagement, and reconstruction of a place or locality. However, Lundy does not discuss all six of them but rather focuses on the three most important ones.
Lundy starts out with social morphology, leading to an exploration of networks and connections that Haitian immigrants established with the homeland in order to respond to the devastation of their country. Haitian families acted through churches and other benevolent associations to take care of kin at home. Some opened their homes to refugees and orphans from the earthquake while others brought family members over to the U.S. Some even traveled back to Haiti to help out with the situation. Haitian churches in the U.S. and their corresponding churches in Haiti played a big role in the transferring of resources and information between Haiti and the U.S. They established church to church links that allowed migrants to figure out if their family in Haiti was okay and those in Haiti to receive relief. The church also had many benefits and fundraisers to donate money for Haiti’s relief. Besides the church, professional organizations initiated by Haitians abroad sent professional volunteers to assist those devastated by the earthquake. The Association of Haitian Physicians Abroad sent more than 500 volunteers. Partners in Health sent more than 1000 Creole-speakers to Haiti. In order to ease the sending of remittances Western Union also introduced a no transfer fee for any amount of money sent to Haiti. Some airlines allowed aid supplies to be sent free of charge and donated to Haiti’s cause through the enforcement of frequent flier programs. Communication was vital for those in the diaspora and Haiti, thus Digicel promised to replace broken SIM cards for free and provided charging stations for their phones.
Lundy also discusses the strained relationship between the diaspora and Haiti’s government. Many Haitian immigrants saw the earthquake as an opportunity to restructure the political relationship between Haiti and its diaspora. Haitians abroad were not able to partake in Haiti’s political affairs. Haiti also did not recognize dual citizenship and many politicians had huge resentments with the diaspora for leaving the country and not doing enough to help out.
In his article, Gundy also suggests that transnational ties will continue among the second generation and even third generations. The continuing flow of people back and forth will allow children of immigrants to form a link to their homeland. Initially, many Haitian immigrants and their children engaged in the cover-up process, an active process of distancing oneself from one’s Haitian ancestry. Young Haitians would want to be identified as anything other than Haitian. The reason why was because in the 1900s, the USCDC singled out Haitians as members of the 4-H club: most prone to be homosexuals, hemophiliacs, heroin users and have HIV. However, Haitian elders educated the youth and clarified many things, causing them to have a more positive view of being Haitian. Thus second and third generation Haitian Americans became long distance nationalists, in other words, people who have a claim to membership in a political community that exists beyond the territorial borders of a homeland. This process causes an emotional attachment that motivates people to political action.
The popularity of identifying as a Haitian can be seen within the college campuses throughout the nation. Many Haitian student associations were created for the later generations. Several of these clubs organize fundraising and awareness events to raise funds for the Haitian earthquake relief. Students also often discuss these topics with non-Haitians and have strong political and economic beliefs. There is definitely a complexity in identity among second generation Haitian Americans. There are some where both the parents and the children are afraid of admitting their Haitian, there is one where the parents encourage children to have national pride but children are afraid due to harassment and there are those who just do not care about the consequences and have national pride. Despite all the struggle, many Haitian Americans decided to find a way to connect with the homeland.
In conclusion, Lundy says that the earthquake caused a materialistic and psychological response on behalf of the Haitian diaspora. The Haitian diaspora came together to help Haiti in the recovery process. Through communication efforts, remittance and medical and social aid Haitians helped out a lot. I found this article very interesting as it explores many aspects and domains to transnationalism and then shows how people have been able to form a dual citizenship identity through transnational lives.
