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Lecture 3
pp. 207- end
The start of the massacre (157-158)
Attack on the Haitians by the soldiers at the church.
Unel huled his machete at one of the young soldiers and cut him on the side of his face. As a small squad tried to grab him, Unel twisted and dived between him, all the while screaming that he had never lived on his knees. All of the soldiers were racing after him now, except for Senor Pico who was standing on top of the truck, watching.
Unel was trapped inside a circle. Three of the soldiers grabbed his right arm. Others grabbed the left, joining his arms behind him on the buttocks. One the more anxious soldiers pierced one of Unel’s arms with the point of his bayonet, cutting a gash from wrist to elbow (157)
Violence
“You know how much I admire the Generalissimo,” Mercedes said, her voice quivering beneath the weight of too much of her own firewater. “Even so, I say we are asking for punishment when we arrest the priests in their own church.”
“You should have been there to see it,” one of the soldiers argued,” They cried like new widows, those priests.” (158)
The role of the soldiers and loss of humanity: genocide de-humanizes the understanding of the ‘other’ ethnicity.
The separation of Amabelle and Sebestien
There is confusion surrounding the chaos at the church. Rumors start about Sebestien getting arrested at the church (163) and the violence that took place at the church.
There is a lack of trust among the Haitians and Dominicans. Dona Gilbert and Dona Sabine warn Amabelle to be careful about who is let in. After they leave, Amabelle makes a decision to go search for Mimi and Sebestien in Dajabon (165). She confides in Sebestien’s best friend, Yves.
Yves, Felice, and Amabelle start their journey to return to Haiti.
The massacre intensifies (173)
“ I am coming back,” he said, “ from buying charcoal outside the mill where I work, when two soldiers take me and put me on a truck full of people. The people who fight before going on the truck, they whip them with bayonets until they consent. After we’re all on the truck, some of us half dead, not knowing whose blood is whose, they take us out to a high cliff over the rough seas in La Romana. They make us stand in the groups of six against a wall of soldiers with bayonets pointed at you and some civilians where best to strike with the machetes so our heads part more easily from our bodies. ” Tibon usd his bony hand to make the motion of a machete striking his collarbone. “They make us stand in lines of six on the edge of the cliff.” he said, “they come back back to the truck to get more. They have six jump over the cliff, then another six, then another six, then another six”
This is a scene that was also described in the documentary, especially in the discussion of the violence that took place in Guatemala. Please expand on the connection further. What are the similarities between this particular moment in the novel and documentary.
Identity, Class, and belonging
“They have so many of us here because our country – our government – has forsaken us.” Tibon started again, but no one replied. “Poor people are sold to work in the cane fields so our own country can be free of them.” (178)
”he ruin of the poor is their poverty,” Tibon went on. “The poor man, no matter who he is, is always despised by his neighbors. When you stay too long at a neighbor’s house. It’s only natural that he become weary of you and hate you.” (178)
Tibon spends time here contemplating the rejection he feels from the Dominicans. Please note the reference to poverty and class. There is no mention of ethnicity here but this particular moment suggests that there are multiple elements that lead to a genocide/massacre. The tensions between the people who are have/have-nots also manifests here. People from Haiti feel disenfranchised and work in Dominican Republic to support the cane industries there.
The complicated figures: The dominican sisters (pp. 183)
As we walked away from them, I wanted to argue for allowing the sisters to come with us, but the fires down below made too strong a demonstration of fanger. Besides, the sisters would not have as many obstacles as we would in Dajabon. If they were asked to say “perejil”, they could say it with ease. In most of our mouths, their names would be tinged with or even translated into Kreyol, the way the name of Doloriatas’ man slid towards the Spanish each time she evoked him. Perhaps if we addressed the sisters publicly in Dajabon, someone might hear and at that moment decide that we should die.
Language determines if a person will live or not. However, here, we see that there were complicated figures who were attached to Haitians (be it romantically!). You see that the Dominican women are willing to risk their lives to be with the Haitian men but they don’t risk being caught across the border. The Haitian, however, realize that they do not have the same privilege as them.
Children and genocide
The influence of Trujillo is so great that the children constantly chant ”Viva Trujillo” as they enter Dajabon. The seeds of discrimination against the Haitians are being planted early.
Trujillo announces in the church (a religious institution) that the “problems with the Haitians would be solved” (189)
Think about other leaders who have committed the act of genocide. What leads them to make such decisions and carry the idea of “sub-human” forward of ”other” races. In the documentary, Daniel Goldhagen makes a point about the genocide being architected by a singular leader. He reiterates this point throughout the documentary. Why do you think the Parsley massacre is not acknowleged as a genocide, as according to the author, it was created by Trujillo.
How does the author represent Trujillo? Does she ”humanize” him like she humanizes the Haitians?
The killings begin– tibon and parsley (pp. 193)
At that moment I did believe that had I had wanted to, I could have said the word properly, calmly, slowly, the way often I asked “Perejil? Of the old Dominican women and their faithful attending granddaughters at the roadside gardens and markets, even though the trill of the r and the rpecision of the j was sometimes too burdensome a joining for my tongue. It was kind of thing that if you were startled in the night, you might forget, but with all my senses calm, I could have said it. But I didn’t get a chance. Yves and I were shoved down onto our knees. Our jaws were pried open and parsley stuffed into our mouths. My eyes watering, I chewed and swallowed as quickly as I could, but not nearly as fast as they were forcing the handfuls into my mouth.”
Here, Danticat allows you an insight into the mind of the victims of the genocide and its survivors. What can you understand from this particular moment in the novel?
The device of foreshadowing
The doctors states that “many of us start out as twins in the belly and do away with each other (Ch.4, p.19).” This foreshadows not only the death of Rafael, but also the fate of the Haitians. The Haitians and the Dominican both hail from the same island and struggle to survive among the same resources. However, it is the Dominicans who try to do away with the Haitians in the form of the killings.
The haitian revolution (212)
“ A smart man,” someone said, “in those times we had respect. When Desalines, Touissant, Henry, when those men walked the earth, we were a strong nation. These men would go to war to defend our blood. In all this, our so-called president says nothing, our Papa Vincent - our poet – he says nothing at all to this affront to the children of Dessalines, the children of Touissant, the children of Henry; he shouts nothing across this river of blood.”
“I hear the weight of river…The slaughter is the only thing that is mine enough to pass on. All I want to do is lay it down now and again, a safe nest where it will neither be scattered by the winds, nor remain forever buried beneath the sod.” (pp. 266)
Amabelle's parents drown during a hurricane, as did Sebastien's father, and in the 1937 slaughter, many Haitians were murdered on the bed of the river dividing the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Discuss the many functions of water in the novel, healing as well as destructive.
Worse than war: documentary information and link
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/worse-than-war/
In the Immediate aftermath of the genocide: Loss of memory
After the violent encounter, Amabelle awakes after three days. She believes that Sebestien is found. However, the people tell her it was Yves who rescued her.
Many of her friends including Odette and Wilner had died. (213) Yves is willing to take her to see Sebestien. He also informs her that killings have stopped (216).
Making sense of humanity (216-7)
The next morning, Yves went along with the priests, the doctors, and the others whose work it was to collect corpses along the riverbank. The work took the whole morning, even though the nuns too told us that the killing had ceased and there were hardly any more corpses to bury.
The room was full beyond its measure now, with everyone seeking shelter from the mud outside…
The man from the cadaver pit lay on his mat all morning, mumbling his woman’s name. Nounone, Nounone. Next to him was a crippled Dominican who could console him only in Spanish.
“Calmate, hombre,” mumbled the Dominican. He was black like the nun who came to re-dress his wounds. He’d been mistaken for one of us and had recieved a machete blow across the back of his neck for it.
There were many like him in the room, I said. (217)
This is a powerful moment in the novel. Here, a Dominican is mistaken for a Haitian and has survived an attack on him. What makes genocides different from a war zone? Think of the example of the Hutu killer who was in the prison and giving the interview. He had said that he was in a frenzy “mode” ready to kill without thinking. However, here we see that the Dominicans even harmed their own without realizing. What can we learn about humanity/human nature from the act of genocide?
Man Rapadou, Yves, and his relationship with Amabelle
The decorum around them is awkward. Yves still considers Amabelle – Sebestien’s romantic interest – even though at this point (222) we are not sure if Sebestien is even alive or not. Man Rapadou immediately says, “You have a woman. This is your woman?” however, Yves responds in a disciplined manner denying any romantic feelings towards Amabelle even though their journey from Dominican Republic to Haiti. They have been tortured, shared good memories, and protected each other from the violence. Yves is an honourable man.
Man Rapadou who learns of Amabelle’s story calls the killings – “a slaughter” (228) Here, Amabelle responds with shock thinking that she is encouraging her to embrace her son and forget Sebestien, which creates for an awkward situation.
Controversial compensation for the survivors (231)
Is compensation enough for the killings of people for no reason?
Yves: I hear there are officials of the state, justices of the peace, who listen to those who survived the slaughter and write their stories down. The Generalissimo has not said that he caused the killing, but he agreed to give money to the affected persons.
Amabelle: Why?
Yves: To eras bad feelings, “ he said, as if he was no longer linked to the slaughter.
Amabelle: And the dead?
Yves: they pay their families…
Yves: I dont know if you’ll be given money. The authorities might try to keep it all for themselves. They ask you to bring papers. They ask you to bring proof.
This is a troubling moment in the novel. First, this is where you see the notion of bio-politics we discussed earlier in class come to life. For one, the Generalissimo is trying to erase his actions by paying money to the survivors. However, there is also a mention of corruption within the beauracracy which holds utter disregard for the lives of the survivors and dead.
Why do you think Yves is so distant from this concept?
Amabelle meets Sebestien and mimi’s mother (238-9)
Mama Denise: Their father was killed in the hurricane; Sebestien had a cage full of pigeons that also died in the hurricane, this house was taken from us by the Yankis; they wanted to make a road of this house. It was given back to us only after they left. Because we had no house, my son went there first, and me, because I was weak in the lungs, I was to go live with my brother in Port-au-Prince. I had no money so my daughter followed Sebestien and they both sent me some.
The truth revealed (241)
Mama Denise: A young man came here to see me some days past. He came here to see me on his way to Port-au-Prince. He said he saw my children killed, in a court yard, between two government edifices there, in a place called Santiago. He said he saw them herd my children with a group, make them lie face down on the ground, and shoot them with rifles.
Then Mama Denise asks her to leave her alone. Here, Amabelle’s reaction is quite shocking. Instead of becoming emotionally shocked, she believes that Sebestien and Mimi are probably dead. She justifies it by stating what she had heard on her journey in Dajabon and La Romana. How does she react towards Mama Denise?
Death and its representation in the novel
Those who die young, they are cheated….I wish people would stop coming to tell me they saw my children die. I wish I had my hopes that there were living some place, even if they never did come back to see me” (242-243)
Yves reveals his knowledge of Sebestien and Mimi’s death – pp. 248-249
How does Yves and Amabelle’s relationship evolve? Does she forgive him for not telling the truth all this time?
The beginning of the end (277-310)
Man Rapadou’s Confession: She had killed Yves’s father for the name of her country (pp. 277)
Tourism and Haiti/Dominican Repulic: I wasn’t certain why I had picked that particular group of white foreigners and Haitian guide to follow until I realized that both the guide’s talk and the things that members of the group were whispering to one another was in Spanish (279)
At first glace, the Massacre appeared like any of the three or four large rivers in North Haiti (284)
Why does she choose to return to see Pico and his family? – pp. 300-onwards
Sylive’s question and story of the Generalissimo – page 304 – reread this passage again. It is important to understand the meaning of massacre/genocide. It shows that foreshadowing as the incident happens when the Generalissimo is a young man.
The end
Why does the novel end with Amabelle swimming in the river?
Lecture 2
pp. 104- 206
Essay # 3 – Due 4/24/2017
Representations of War and Genocide: In 1000-1200 words, discuss the novel, Edwidge Danticat’s Farming of the Bones, represent genocide and massacre. Focus on why in history, The Parsley massacre is not called a genocide, rather a massacre. Even though the parsley massacre was clearly an act of genocide, history calls it a massacre. Before discussing the novel, explain in your words the definitions of “massacre” and “genocide”? In many ways, The Farming of Bones is also a meditation on survival. Each character in the novel—Amabelle, Sebastien, Father Romain, Man Denise, Man Rapadou, just to name a few—have different methods of survival. Can you discuss these? Are there any characters in particular that have survived with a better quality of life than others? What does it mean to survive? Length: 1000-1200 words Due date: 4/24/2017
Nationalism
Definition: Nationalism therefore holds that a nation should govern itself, free from unwanted outside interference, and is linked to the concept of self-determination. Nationalism is further oriented towards developing and maintaining a national identity based on shared characteristics such as culture, language, race, religion, political goals or a belief in a common ancestry.[1][2] Nationalism therefore seeks to preserve the nation's culture. It often also involves a sense of pride in the nation's achievements, and is closely linked to the concept of patriotism. In these terms, nationalism can be considered positive or negative
Bio-politics
intersectional field between biology and politics
Term was coined in 1911 by G.W. Harris
Philosopher Michel Foucault has used the term in post-strucutarlist theory
Foucault's concept of biopolitics is largely derived from his own notion of biopower, and the extension of state power over both the physical and political bodies of a population. While only mentioned briefly in his "Society Must Be Defended" lectures, his concept of biopolitics has become prominent in social and humanistic sciences.
Joel’s death
“No funeral for Joel,” he said, “I wanted to bury him in our own land where he was born, I did, but he was too heavy to carry so far. I buried him where he did in the ravine. I buried him in a field of lemongrass, my son. “ He lowered his head, letting the tobacco mix drop to his chest. “He was one of those children who grew like weeds in the fields, my son. Didn’t need nobody or nothing, but he idd love his father. It wasn’t ceremonious the way I buried him, I know. No clothes, no coffin, nothing between him and the dry ground. I wanted to give him back to the soil the way his mother passed him to me on the first day of his life.” (108)
Death of two children
Joel, Kongo’s son and Senor Pico’s son
“Senor Pico’s son died today” I said.
“This is what I had heard,” Sebastien said, his voice rising with a smile as though it were not a sad thing at all.
“You should not rejoice for something like this, “I warned. “He was only a child” (pp. 110)
Is the death of Señora Valencia's baby boy just a coincidence, or is it an example of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"?
Language and Rumours
Word of Senor Valencia’s invitation passed from mouth to mouth in the group. Shoulders were shrugged. Eyebrows were raised. Burlap sacks and straw hats were removed from heads for a better look at the house. Discussions began and ended in the same breath. What did she want with them anyway? Maybe there were all going to get to be poisoned. Many had heard rumors of groups of Haitians being killed in the night because they could not manage to thrill the “r’ and utter a throaty “r” to ask for parsley, to say perejil. Rumors don’t start for nothing, someone insisted. (114)
Do you think that Amabelle knew that the massacre was coming, or was she truly naive about the impending tide of events?
Think of holocaust and other genocides/massacres, what were the signs of the beginning stages of such events? Think back to the documentary.
”Cleansing of the country”
With news of the Generalissimo’s intentions to “cleanse the country,” Haitian workers attempt to return to their home country.
“We want to protect our people,” Unel said, “After Joel was killed, we formed the night-watchman brigade. If they come, we’ll be prepared for them.”
“I am going back,” another man spoke from behind me. “I won’t wait for things to go from talk to bloodshed, I’m going back to Haiti. I won’t take the automobile roads where all the soldiers are, I’ll travel through the mountains. I’m going back this Saturday. I’m prepared to leave all this behind. Thank you, Algeria. Our time here has been joyful, but now I must say good bye to you.” (125)
“I will stay and fight, “ Unel said, “I work hard; I have a right to be here. The brigade stays to fight. While we fight we can help others.” (126)
The symbol of the Sugar woman – 132
I dream of the sugar woman. Again.
The sugar woman grabs her skirt and skips back and forth in a very fast spin. She seems to be dancing a kalanda in a very fast spin, locks arms with the ari, pretends to kiss someone much taller than herself. As she swings and shuffles, the chains on her ankles cymbal a rattled melody. She hops to the sound of the jingle of the chains, which with her twists grows louder and louder.
The chains bind the sugar woman and she wears a silver muzzle. This muzzle was given to the sugar woman so that she would not eat the sugarcane. However, despite her confinements, she is dancing.
Like the workers, they come to the Dominican Republic to find work and a better life and stay due to the work that they find in the mills that they cannot find in Haiti. Regardless of their hard work, the workers cannot taste the sweetness of the sugarcane; instead, they are bound by it. In fact, they cannot escape it. Danticat even describes Sebastien with his sweat as thick as sugarcane juice and many of his defining scars a result of working in the cane fields.
The tensions of the massacre start (140)
“Please listen to me, “ he whispered in Kreyol, ”You must leave this house immediately. I have just heard this from some friends at the border. One of the Generalissimo’s orders, solders and civillians are killing Haitians. It may be just a few hours before they reach the valley.”
It couldn’t be real. Rumors, I thought. There were always rumors, rumors of war, of land disputes, of one side of the island planning to invade the other. These were the grand fantasies of presidents wanting the whole island to themselves. This could not touch people like me, nor people like Yves, Sebastien, and Kongo who worked in the cane fields. The Dominicans needed the sugar from the cane for their cafecitos and dulce de leche. They needed money from the cane.
Planning for escape (143)
“I have found three places for you, Mimi, and me in a truck crossing the border tonight.” I said finally.
“I’ve heard about the doctor’s Mass,” he said, “Santa Teresa, the little flower”
…You never believed those people could injure you,” he said with a scowl that seemed truly hateful, as though he was talking to someone other than me. “Even after they killed Joel, you thought they could never harm you.”
The massacre begins (pp. 153 onwards)
The soldiers formed a wall, blacking a line of men from Unel’s brigade. Unel and his friends had their machetes in their hands. Senor Pico stood on the front guard of the lead truck watching the confrontation.
Some cane workers had already been loaded in the back of the other truck, guarded by a small squad of young soldiers, The can workers in the trucks huddled close, clinging to each other for balance.
Lecture 1
pp.1-103
Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge Danticat
born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti
when she was two years old, her father André immigrated to New York, to be followed two years later by her mother Rose .This left Danticat and her younger brother, also named André, to be raised by her aunt and uncle. When asked in an interview about her traditions as a child, she included storytelling, church, and constantly studying school material as all part of growing up.
At the age of 12, she moved to Brooklyn, New York, to join her parents in a heavily Haitian-American neighborhood. As an immigrant teenager, Edwidge's disorientation in her new surroundings was a source of discomfort for her, and she turned to literature for solace. Danticat did not realize the racism until she went to college because of the protection of her community.
Since completing her MFA, Danticat has taught creative writing at the New York University and the University of Miami.
She has also worked with filmmakers Patricia Benoit and Jonathan Demme, on projects on Haitian art and documentaries about Haïti.[1] Her short stories have appeared in over 25 periodicals and have been anthologized several times. Her work has been translated into numerous other languages, including Japanese, French, Korean, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish.
1937 Parsley Massacre
a genocidal massacre carried out in October 1937 against Haitians living in the Dominican Republic.
It was carried out by Dominican Army troops on the direct orders of President Rafael Trujillo. Estimates of the total number of deaths vary considerably, ranging from a low of 547 to a high of 12,166.
1937 Parsley massacre: Life or death
Dominican soldiers would hold up a sprig of parsley to someone and ask what it was. How the person pronounced the Spanish word for parsley (perejil) determined their fate.
The Haitian languages, French and Haitian Creole, pronounce the r as a uvular approximant or a voiced velar fricative, respectively so their speakers can have difficulty pronouncing the alveolar tap or the alveolar trill of Spanish, the language of the Dominican Republic. Also, only Spanish but not French or Haitian Creole pronounces the j as the voiceless velar fricative.
If they could pronounce it the Spanish way the soldiers considered them Dominican and let them live, but if they pronounced it the French or Creole way they considered them Haitian and executed them.
The aftermath of parsley massacre
Despite the number of deaths reported by Haitian, American, and British officials, and following over half a century of agricultural expansion and population growth which may have led to accidental unearthing of human remains, no mass grave containing the bodies of murdered Haitians has ever been found.
Nonetheless, the lack of graves does not prove that the killings did not take place; however, it does suggest that the number of dead was in reality much less than those commonly reported. Reports from the day have numbers ranging from as little as 1,000 dead up to 12,000. This inflation of the tally is attributed by some to the propaganda of anti-Trujillo exiles who wanted to rally international support against the dictator Trujillo.
On the Dominican side, there are no known formally documented first-hand witness accounts by military personnel carrying out the executions nor from civilians. Historian and former Dominican ambassador to the United States Bernardo Vega has cited that not many weeks after the end of the alleged massacre, Haitians were once again lining up for work at Dominican sugar cane plantations, something he considers as strange as "lambs willingly walking into the slaughterhouse.
Genocide vs. Massacre
What are the ways the documentary narrator describe aspects of genocide?
What is a massacre?
Sub-human – how does the documentary imply thus far how different state-sanctioned genocide choose its victims?
Plot overview
Historical fiction, published in 1998.
The story begins with with narrator Amabelle Desir speaking of her lover, Sebastian Onius. These two Haitians are later separated following the beginning of the 1937 massacre.
Set in 1937, the story starts out in Alegria which consists of many sugarcane mills that requires workers. However, with the government’s intentions to “cleanse the country,” the story soon travels within the Dominican Republic as far as the Massacre River that borders the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Plot overview
Set in the Dominican Republic in the 1930s, The Farming of Bones tells the story of a young Haitian girl named Amabelle Desir. Orphaned by the age of 8, Amabelle works for Don Ignacio and his daughter. Although Don Ignacio and his daughter are important figures in Amabelle’s life, it is evident that Amabelle’s life revolves around her lover, Sebastien Onius.
After the accidental death of one of Sebastien’s fellow cane workers, the Haitian’s distrust of the Dominican government grows, and this distrust is warranted. With news of the Generalissimo’s intentions to “cleanse the country,” Haitian workers attempt to return to their home country.
The meaning of the title
The title The Farming of Bones is alluded to in Chapter 10 when Amabelle refers to the cane life as “travay te pou zo,” or the farming of bones. Working in the cane fields proves to be dangerous and even life-threatening as it scars and mutilates many of the workers.
Characters
Amabelle Desir: The Farming of Bones is told through the voice of the young Haitian protagonist.
Sebastien Onius: A young Haitian man who is in a romantic relationship with Amabelle.He attempts to create this narrative by listening attentively to Amabelle’s dreams or having a burning desire to be home.
Generalissimo Rafael Leonidas Trujillo – Although the characters do not interact with the President of the Dominican Republic formally, he is an omnipresent figure. His presidency completely dictates the social dynamics of the Dominican Republic. (pp. 42-43)
Papi / Don Ignacio– Papi, is the kind man who finds Amabelle shortly after she is abandoned as a young girl. When Amabelle is not with Sebastien, her life is centered around Papi’s home and his relatives.
Kongo – The obvious symbol of Haiti and African roots in this novel. The stories which surround him, whether it be about his son contextualize the reality of working Haitians in the Dominican Republic, who are forced to the bottom of the social hierarchy.
Yves – Sebestien’s friend
Mimi- Sebestien’s sister
Sebastian – Novel’s form
Sebastien- who is from not of Haiti like I am, though we did not know each other when we lived there -feels haunted by the crooning of pigeons…Sebastien’s father was killed in the great hurricane that struck the whole island- both Haiti and the Dominican Republic – in 1930. He lost his father and almost everything else. This is why he left Haiti. This is why I have him. A sweep of winds that destroyed so many houses and killed so many people brought him to me.
Sebestien’s mother is still alive in Haiti. (25)
Structure of the novel
first person narrative through the character of Amabelle Desir.
Amabelle narrates in past tense with memories and dreams interlaced within it. The story is not told from the beginning of Amabelle’s life but instead, it encapsulates the period of the life leading to the massacre and her life after. The memories and dreams intermingled within the story gives insight into her character and add to story development.
Loss of Sebastien’s and Amabelle’s parents
I can tell, he is ready. He wants me to ask about his dead father. I can tell by the endless pause after I’m done speaking the way he opens his mouth now and again and then only sighs as if to ask himself where he could possibly make himself begin.
“How did the hurricane find your father?” I end up saying. (pp. 34)
In Dominican Republic
Senor Pico Duarte bore the name of one of the fathers of Dominican independence, a name that he has shared with the tallest mountain on the island, until recently, when it was rechristiened Pico Trujillo after the Generallismo.
The floor thundered under his boots as he ran from Papi’s automobile into the house to find his wife and newborn children, looking for hints of their presence in the parlor and all the different rooms in the house. (35)
Signs of tension
“Senor Pico shouted at the men and blew the klaxon.” Louis continued. “Two of the men ran off. The other one didn’t seem to hear the horn. The automobile struck him, and he went flying into the ravine. He yelled when the automobile hit him, but when we came out to look, he was gone. It was a barcero, maybe one who works at Don Carlos’s mill.”
I knew most of the people who worked with Sebastien at Don Carlos’s mill, lived in Don Carlos’s compounds. The valley was small enough that most of us were familiar with one another. I thought immediately of Sebastien. Surely another worker would have come for me already had Sebastien been struck by Senor Pico’s automobile (pp.39)
Literary device: dreams
Dreams as a vehicle of character development, but she also uses dreams as a vehicle for the characters to escape reality and nightmares as a means to haunt them of their past.
While Amabelle frequently dreams of her parents drowning in the river, Sebastien dreams of his father’s death in the hurricane.
Death of joel
Joel dead? How?
Yves, Joel, and me, we were walking along when an automobile hit Joel and sent him into the ravine.”
…
What’s Kongo doing? I asked. Perhaps Sebastien was staying calm by thinking on the next step, the next action.
Does Kongo know whose automobile hit Joel?
At this time, all he knows is thath is son is dead. He needs to make a coffin. Don Carlos won’t pay for the burial (48)
Chapter 9 – the memory of the loss of her parents (pp. 50-52)
My mother turns back to look for me, throwing my father off balance…The water rises above my father’s head...I scream until I can taste blood in my throat, until I can no longer hear my own voice (52)
Life after joel’s death
Tonight, Yves and me, we carried Joel’s corpse into the compound, he said, I thought about how both Yves’s father and my father died, his father organizing brigades to fight the Yanki occupation in Haiti and my father in the hurricane….
Sometimes the people in the fields, when they’re tired and angry, they say we’re an orphaned people,” he siad, “They say we are the burt crud at the bottom of the pot. They say some people don’t belong anywhere and that’s us. I say we are a group of vwayaje, wayfarers. This is why you had to travel this far to meet me, because this is what we are.” (56)
The parsley
Now Kongio was bathing in the middle of the stream, scrubbing his body with a handful of wet parsley while the sun climbed up in the sky above his silver-tipped hair.
We used pesi, perejil, parsley, the damp summer mourningness of it, the mingled sprigs, bristly and coarse docile all at once, tasteless and bitter when chewed,a sweetened wind inside the mouth, the leaves a different taste than the stalk, all this we savoured for our food, our teas, our baths, to cleanse our insides as well as outsides of old aches and griefs, to shed a passing year’s dust as a new one dawned, to wash a new infant’s hair for the first time and along-with boiled orange leaves – a corpse’s remains one final time. (62)
The parsley as a symbol
It is the pronunciation of parsley that determines who lives and who dies in the Dominican Republic. In one instance, parsley is referred to being used to “cleanse” insides as well as outsides and “perhaps the Generalissimo in some larger order was trying to do the same for his country (Ch. 29, p. 203).”
In this case, the Generalissimo uses parsley as a determinate of life or death. Furthermore, in another instance, parsley is an ability to conform to others

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