I didn’t know that Haiti’s history was so rich with conflicts until this week’s reading. Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker not only had an intriguing story about regret and redemption, but also included Haiti’s political and social situation during that time period. After reading the book, I realized that transnationalism is very strong between Haiti and Haitian American. Even if people living in Haiti emigrate out of the country, they can’t escape the past they had in Haiti, and are sometimes haunted by it. The Dew Breaker is my most favorites of the books I’ve read this semester. Its written in a unique style and each chapter/story is encapsulating. Originally, I was hoping that Danticat would tie all the stories together with the last few chapters. In a way, she did. Each story had some kind of relation to Ka’s father, or the dew breaker. But I was hoping more of how each person would react when they discovered who Ka’s Father was. However, I still enjoyed the existing ending as it allows the readers themselves to piece the puzzle together.

Garvey Lundy talks about transnationalism in Haiti after the Haitian earthquake of January 2010. What Haitian Americans did after the earthquake was something that I can personally relate to. In 2008, an earthquake hit China as well. It was an 8.0 magnitude earth and the destruction was tremendous. Similar to what the Haitian American did during the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Chinese diaspora groups also raised money to aid the Sichuan province. My family is from China and I also participated in the effort to help the affected people. We donated money and stayed updated with all the news about the earthquake. Receiving aid from the country’s diaspora group is something that happens when countries are in times of need.