As it was seen in the ending of Danticat’s novel and the occurrences of natural disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes, the congregation of diasporic people was essential and vital. Many of the individuals who share a sense of culture, tradition, or nationality were seen to form groups to help each other collectively. As seen in the end of “Dew Breaker,” the diasporic individuals, Haitian for example, regardless of being opposing violent factors, essentially came together at the end. Specifically, the dew breaker and the sister of the priest that was murdered by the dew breaker, ultimately ended up getting married in the end because of the inevitable fact that they need each other to survive. This goes along the lines of redemption and forgiveness, which are strong aspects of the religion shared by these Haitians individuals, thus being another conforming factor bring them together.
Other key, yet unfortunate events that bring individuals together, such as the Haitians again for example, was the drastic earthquake that occurred in Haiti. Emphasizing the ideals of nationalism, many of these individuals set aside their personal differences, and work towards helping each other out. New York being a big center of Caribbean migrants including Haitians, played an extremely important role in helping Haiti recover from the unfortunate drastic event. This emphasizes the act of people coming to together for the general betterment of their own kin, as seen at the end of “Dew Breaker.” Examples of how the individuals helped included raising awareness of the catastrophe, and raising funds and organizations to help Haiti. Although it is a very sad event, it is remarkable of how it is capable of congregating numerous people to serve under one purpose. Thus, it comes down to helping each other through trouble times, because that is all they have…their own people.
However, this example cannot be isolated to the earthquake in Haiti alone. Multiple examples have occurred, and are still occurring that are bringing individuals together that share the same culture, traditions, or nationality to help the ones in need. As mentioned in class, the earthquake in China sparked a revolutionary reaction in New York, due to the great number of Chinese immigrants living in the United States. The Chinese individuals quickly got together to help their home country to recover, and aid them in a desperate time of need. A personal example would be the recent avalanche that occurred in Afghanistan, which worried my family very much, since we have family and numerous other relatives still living in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, no one that was close to our family was hurt; however, many Afghans did die. Despite the many existing issues in Afghanistan right now the individuals got together and helped the ones in need. My mother actually sent money from America to Afghanistan to help with the recovery process, even though we weren’t closely related to them. This goes to emphasize the transnational stance, and how the networks linking many countries through their immigrants still exits today. The Haitians in America are explicitly displaying their transnational ties by forming relieve organizations and sending funds from a totally different country for their home country, maintaining that crucial transnational link. Nevertheless, immigrants and humans in general require companionship and cooperative interactions with other individuals to survive and get through tough time, thus accentuating the act of people coming together.
