Abstract
The paper relates that rape is a crime, but it can also be a political act. The paper explains that it has been established that rape is not about sex but about aggression and violence, and such violence can be directed at women in general, or it can be directed at a specific population, which is why rape is at times an element in war, civil war, the oppression of minorities, and similar social conflicts. The paper outlines how this idea of the role of rape in conflicts between social classes infuses the novel "Breath, Eyes, Memory" by Edwidge Danticat, a book that also explores the social, psychological, and physical effects of rape on the women who are its victims.

From the Paper
"Rape is a crime, but it can also be a political act. It has been established that rape is not about sex but about aggression and violence. Such violence can be directed at women in general, or it can be directed at a specific population, which is why rape is at times an element in war, civil war, the oppression of minorities, and similar social conflicts. This idea of the role of rape in conflicts between social classes infuses the novel "Breath, Eyes, Memory" by Edwidge Danticat, a book that also explores the social, psychological, and physical effects of rape on the women who are its victims. As one critic writes, "Danticat examines the human spirit under duress; she gives a voice to the people who appear in...""

Tags:danticat, novel, rape

Abstract
This paper explains that Edwidge Danticat's nine interlaced short stories, which make up the novel "Krik? Krak!", focuses on the treatment of women who are beaten, imprisoned and raped in Haiti, on the horror that is retained as unforgettable memories of women after their escape from Haiti and on the children who must live vicariously through their parents' memoirs of the motherland. The author points out that critics acclaim the power of this collection of short stories as a complicated, yet connected, chorus of Haitian voices affirming survival. The paper relates that Danticat does not use emotion to fuel her stories; she simply states the facts within her own creative fictional accounts.

From the Paper
"Although not in a prison cell, another mother in the novel was locked into a different kind of hell because the hopelessness of her life was unfortunately almost impossible to rescue her son from experiencing. Little Guy was not aware of what would become his future, but his parents feared he would live the harsh meaningless lifestyles that they had. His mother especially worried about this after her husband killed himself and she was left alone to raise her son to become more than their circumstances should have allowed. Aside from knowing the right tricks to keep young Guy from hunger, she also kept him occupied by helping him recite his lines for the school play."

Tags:fiction, facts, memor, survival, prison

Abstract
This paper analyzes the primary use of the natural world as a spiritual power within the writings of Nwapa and Danticat. The paper discusses how Efuru is a primary example of the power of the lake to provide her security and solace during the turbulent and chaotic family situations she must face. The paper relates that when her child dies and her husbands abandon her, she relies on her own spiritual powers to summon the Goddess of the Lake to help her understand and cope with her losses.

Tags:literatures, novel, writing

Abstract
This paper summarizes the story of Edwidge Danticat's "Breath, Eyes, Memory," and clearly links the novel to that of the life of the author. It correlates the Greek mythological story of Demeter and Persephone to that in the book in the context of a mother and daughter relationship and link. It also examines the connections mothers, daughters, and women have throughout a bloodline that extends for generations.

From the paper:

"Running throughout this book is a sense that this is the darker version of the Demeter and Persephone story. The connection of these divinities is so great that they cannot bear to be parted, which is something like what happens in this Haitian story. But the story of Demeter's love for Persephone is bound up with images of fertility and lushness while Sophie's mother is a force for virginity and sterility. This contrasting set of pairs joy and fertility in the Greek myth and sorrow and sterility in the Haitian story may be seen to be a commentary on the nature of what happens to women's bodies when they are colonized."

Tags:women, mother, daughter, Haiti

Abstract
In this article, the writer examines the injustice and suffering in the Dominican Republic, which is demonstrated in Edwidge Danticat's novel 'The Farming of Bones'. The writer notes that by writing her brilliant story, Danticat remembers this farming of human bones. The writer points out that the story is set in a terrible time during the dictatorship of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, where race, discrimination and politics are among its theme. Further the writer describes that the author illustrates a novel in which history and fiction are connected in a persuasive way to learn and critique the regime of Trujillo. The writer concludes by noting that discrimination and apprehension continue between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where culture and beliefs are diverse in countries that share the same land.

From the Paper
"Edwidge Danticat concentrates in the history of Haitians cane workers, and the massacre of them in the Dominican Republic. Due to a growing xenophobia under the rule of Generalissimo Trujillo, the Dominicans were told to purify the country. Trujillo clandestinely arranged the massacre of hundreds of immigrants in the Dominican Republic most of them sugarcane workers from Haiti, the country with which the Dominican Republic shares the island named "Hispaniola". In Trujillo's approach, the Haitians immigrants, whom he considered them inferior people, because of their color of skin had simply become too abundant in the country. Thus, a wave of genocide which annihilates the Haitian population is justified."

Tags:culture, racism, Haitians, immigrants

Abstract
The paper discusses " The Farming of Bones" and examines how Edwidge Danticat produces a powerful and lyrical work that explores the suffering and mass murder of Haitians unfortunate enough to live and work in the Dominican Republic during the heyday of Dictator Rafael Trujillo in the late 1930s. Among the many powerful evocations in the work is Danticat's haunting use of the concept of remembrance. In her case she uses the idea of memory and loss to evoke an aching reminder of all those whose lives were taken, but who have now been lost to the mists of time.

Tags:death, violence, remembrance

Abstract
The paper reviews "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe and "Breath, Eyes, Memory" by Edwidge Danticat. After outlining each book's plot, the writer seeks common themes in the two works. The paper concludes by identifying change vs. tradition as the underlying commonality.

From the Paper
"To conclude, though their works are greatly different, both Chinua Achebe and Edwidge Danticat's novels share many similarities. Both Things Fall Apart by Achebe and Breath, Eyes, Memory by Danticat feature characters' whose past causes them pain day after day, as well as the often times violent response to the end of imperialism. Both novels also have the same basic theme: change versus tradition. In both cases, it appears that change has won out over tradition. It is up to the reader to decide if this particular change is necessarily a good or bad thing."

Tags:transition, Africa, Haiti, change, tradition

Abstract
This paper explains the violence, oppression and alienation that are embedded within the colonial experience as related in Danticat's novel "Breath, Eyes, Memory".

Abstract
In their own unique way, Edwidge Danticat and V. S. Naipaul illuminate the consequences of colonialism. In so doing, they provide scenes of cruelty, violence, deceit and lies. This is a vital vehicle through which the writer is able to demonstrate the horror behind the issue of colonialism and identity. Some of the books looked at are "Breath, Eyes, Memory" and "Miguel Street".

Abstract
This paper examines two very different books, "The Massacre at El Mozote : A Parable of the Cold War" by Mark Danner and "The Farming of Bones" by Edwidge Danticat. It looks at how in each of these books the authors provide a complete picture of a massacre and how each story lays out the events in graphic presentation that cannot be ignored or shoved aside. It evaluates how each book tells a similar story in that people were brutally murdered, yet each story has differences that set them apart from each other. It analyzes how the books address the anger at Americans, given the fact that the nation brags to the world that it is free, fair and the savior of the underdog and how America has been known since its inception as the big brother willing to swoop in and rescue any nation being hurt or treating its members cruelly. In both of these books the point is driven home that the American government turned its back on an entire people that were in crisis.

From the Paper
"The leader at that time decided that he needed to rid his nation of the Haitians working in the cane fields. Annabelle's dedication to finding her man and trekking across the nation to do so she represents some of the things that occurred between the workers and the president. Her fierce determination was metaphorically representative of the determination of those who were being persecuted at the time. The refusal to give up and the instinct of survival were things that the victims also possessed. This book differs from the first one in that it offers up much of the events in historical metaphorical fashion. While this is less hard hitting than the brutal truth from Danner's book it is sometimes a technique that can maintain the reader's attention when straight horror and fact will be to hard to handle."

Tags:haiti, american, government, murder, el, salvadore