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Literary Analysis: Krik Krak ! Edwidge Danticat

Decent Essays

Hurricanes, earthquakes, war, riots, death, and economic problems. Haiti has experienced it all. Through the novel Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat shares stories of Haitians experiencing tragedy. She expresses how Haitians can find hope even in suffering. Danticat uses the motifs of generations and children to convey the idea that Haitians can discover hope even when experiencing pain and hardship. In a suffering society where job opportunities are slim, people find hope through generations of children. Danticat displays this in the story “Night Women.” In the chapter, The mother doesn’t have much opportunity to make money to raise her child. She is forced into prostitution. She has hope that one day, her son will live without worry. She says, …show more content…

In the chapter “Children of the Sea” Danticat displays the idea of children bringing hope to people in adversity. When The Boy is on the boat with Celianne, she goes into labor and has a child. The boat is taking on water and the people on it are anticipating death. When she has the child, Swiss brings Celianne and the others hope. “‘God, this child you bring into the world, please guide her as you please through all her days on this earth’... ‘Celianna's baby is a beautiful child” (18).They are blessing the child because this baby makes them optimistic about surviving. Swiss delivers light and hope. Another occurence of children representing hope is in the chapter “Between the Pool and the Gardenias.” In this story, the woman was depressed because she had lost lots of generations of her family. She finds a lifeless child, but is transformed by the sight of her and only sees the light she brings. She says, “But Rose. My, she was so clean and warm. LIke a tiny angel, a little cherub, sleeping after the wind had blown a lullaby into her little ears” (81). The lifeless child in her arms makes the woman remember hope. Children bring people …show more content…

Through the novel, Danticat expresses this. In the chapter “Night Woman”, an unnamed woman wants her child to live freely and happily so she goes into prostitution. In “Nineteen Thirty-Seven” two different women talk about their experiences with The Massacre River of their mothers. They both talk about how generations of women have brought light and hope into their lives. In the chapter “Children of the Sea”, a young girl goes into labor, while stranded on a boat sailing to America. The sight of a new child brings hope to the people on the boat. Finally, in the story “Between the Pool and the Gardenias” a woman has experienced much loss and is hopeless. When she holds a baby in her arms, she experiences happiness and hope. These stories illustrate the idea that Haitians can find hope and strength through familial generations, both past and future. Haitians have been able to find light in the wake of disaster through the love of family, and the generations of

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