Edwidge Danticat's Krik: Women In Haiti

Words: 1435
Pages: 6

Vy Nguyen
Dr. Lisa Muir
ENG III
28 November 2015
Women in Haiti
There is a lot to know about Haiti when it comes to the conditions as well as the scenarios that were witnessed in Haiti during the regime of the Duvalier. However, much is knowing about this country because of its distance from the United States. During Haiti’s government system, there are lots of injustices and horror story that Haitian were subjected to. In Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak! Originally published in 1991, she brings out the suffering and violence that were witnessed in Haiti with the strength of women playing a significant part in the most stories in her entire book. The imagination of the Josephine in “ Nineteen Thirty-Seven” and Marie in “Between the Pool and
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They have no men for them to run to. For instance, readers only see Josephine’s mother going through the struggle alone, “. . . Mas-sacre River, the river separating Haiti from the Spanish-speaking country that she had never allowed me to name because I had been born on the night . . . the massacre of all Haitians living there” (33). She had the strength to escape across the river to save Josephine. People could not understand how she managed to escape through the bloody river. Not much of Josephine’s father is told. Marie also expresses her frustrations on her unfaithful husband, “My enemies were many and crafty. The girls who slept with my husband while I was still grieving over my miscarriages.” (92). The author brings out men as being unavailable and as being irresponsible for the care of their women. Through the above women, people can see that women in Haiti have been brought out as strong in the society and devoted at maintaining the family love and bond. In a 2009 interview with Opal Palmer Adisa, the two discuss Danticat’s early life she mentions, “The women may not be labeling themselves feminists or womanists, but they’re doing the work. They’re keeping the children alive. They’re keeping the family going” (348). All the women in the above scenarios are passionate about the love of their family and are willing to protect the people they love at all