Things Are Ugly, But We Are Here

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

Women, unfortunately, have been very discriminated against, even in this century. Women are so cruelly thought of that now, women see nothing wrong with mental and physical cruelty towards them. Since the status of women in Africa, is so low, it has caused many men to overpower women…physically. More

In "A Sorrowful Woman" the wife is depressed with her life, so much so, "The sight of them made her so sad and sick she did not want to see them ever again"(p.1). This wife and mother has come to detest her life, the sight of her family,

Solnit’s choice of topic and the context surrounding it stem from her knowledge of the extent of the issue and the overarching repercussions that could result. She acknowledges that there are other topics that she would prefer to devote her time to, “but this affects everything else” (530). Through her topic choice and her selection of details, Solnit seeks to reveal the depth of the inequality throughout society. In order to do this, one of the first strategies that Solnit employs is to use examples from all around the globe. She writes this essay under the assumption that the audience is largely uninformed about the sheer extent of violence against women, and is working to remedy that situation. By pointing out the ways in which other countries routinely and systematically discriminate against women, Solnit places under scrutiny the idea that women’s rights are no longer an issue in the United States. Additionally, by presenting her audience with an abundance of headlines and examples of this discrimination, she further validates her argument and purpose of shedding light onto the issue. One other way in which the context of Solnit’s essay advances her purpose is through her creation of ties between the women’s rights movement and the

Unlike in the United States women in Haiti suffer from the lack of rights and privileges available to women in most western countries. Gender inequality seems to continue to be a

The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

I stand as an outsider looking into a very complex cultural and economic system. I try to understand the perspective of these women but it is impossible because I have not walked in their shoes. Many are resigned to their fate and I wonder if my reaction would not be the same if I were put in a situation in which there were no other options. These women cannot, for whatever reason, be angry about the humiliation and abuse that they suffer, so I feel an obligation to be angry for them and make their plight known to the world.

Poetry have been a major tool for many Haitian writers to express the triumphs that they have and are recently faced with, addressing misrepresentations that may have developed about Haiti, and to give them a sense of hope and encouragement. In most Haitian poems you see the correlation of these actions taking place in the defense of Haiti. Haiti has been a country who overcame many obstacles such as; slavery, the Haitian revolution, recently the earthquake are continuing to go through many more obstacles. Haiti as a whole have been a country for many years that have been up lifting each other in various way, and poetry have been one of many of those ways. Patrick Sylvain, Emmanuel Ejen, Devorah Major, and Rudwaan are examples of Haitian poets who paint a picture in a positive light or even to portray a message of truth. In their poems ‘Ports of Sorrow’, “We be Spirit People”, “Haiti: Statistics of loss” and “WONGOL” all are poems with similar messages in different aspects of light. The poem “Ports of Sorrow” by Patrick Sylvain is a poem about the pain that was developed from the earthquake in Haiti and morn the lives of the people that were lost and a beautiful country that was destroyed. “We be Spirit People” by Rudwaan is based on the Haitian revolutionary war, which was a war fought by enslaved Haitian who defeated Napoleons army, Spanish and English as well and as a result in 1804 Haiti became the first black independent country in the world. This poem sheds light on

In the essay, Williams commences to bring on immense emotions of fortitude and restraint. She pleaded these emotions when disclosing her personal experiences, proclaiming “I watched the women in my family die common, heroic deaths. We sat in waiting rooms hoping for good news, always

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” (Norman Cousins) Death comes to us all, for some it marks the end of a life, for others it reveals the road to a new path in which the soul travels. However it leaves behind a trail of darkness regardless for those who have experienced the loss. Through enduring the death and tragedies of those around us, we are tested by our emotions. The character Amabelle experiences the trauma of death and tragedy many times through water in her journey and Danticat shows us how it affects her in the novel. In a time where there was much death and tragedy, Danticat’s depictions gives us insight into just how horrific the events were that took place during

The narrator is totally crushed by the gender discrimination. She longed to be seen by her mother and her grandma. The narrator is heartbroken that her mother loved her brother more than her and failed to notice her. “When she went into Nonso’s room to say good night, she always came out laughing that laugh. Most times, you pressed your palms to your ears to keep the sound out, and kept your palms pressed to your ears, even when she came into your room to say Good night, darling, sleep well. She never left your room with that laugh” (190). Her agony can be easily seen by the way of her narrating. She does not get the affection that she deserves. She really needs the affection from her own mother, but she is not getting it. She compares the love which her mother shows to his brother and herself. This is gender discrimination can be seen with her grandmother too. She hated her grandma as she would always support her brother and find fault with her. Even though what the brother did, no matter what crime. Her mother and grandmother always supported her brother and never supported or showed interest towards

Granma became very sickly after her husband’s death, but due to monetary reasons and time restrictions, the Joads were unable to give her the respect that she deserved. The families desperation overwhelms any attempts to honor Granma in even the most fundamental ways. The death did not occurr peacefully in a nice place, but “right on the truck” among the dusty matresses, and tired people. (280) Granma could not recieve the comfort of a quiet, painless death and the rest of the family found closure harder to acheive due to the abhorrent nature of her demise. The desperation to reach California and stability destroyed her health, and the lack of money ruined any chance of a decent death or burial because they “couldn’ help her” without spending all of the Joad’s money. (252) Granma’s death portray the harsh truth of all the refugees, the desperation to survive overruled any attempts to respect human dignity in even the most fundamental of

She describes their movement as aimless, and careless because of their lack of motivation to struggle on, seeing life as “ought” or nothing compared to what it once was before the loss. The reader can imagine being in the position of the sufferer; very stagnant, and lifeless almost like a corpse which is what makes this form of diction so evoking.

In this story, the woman is portrayed as person who doesn’t depend on a man to succeed and give a good life to her kid. She was alone, she didn’t have the company of her mother either; but she was facing the challenges that the life put on her way, showing that women have the same strength, power, and ability to achieve success as men. I think that Danticat portrays the woman in that way in order to make

From a feminist critical perspective, it is clear to perceive that her husband’s death was a release of freedom from her marriage. The text describes that at times, she did and did not love her husband. However, love had not mattered anymore because she was now free. Whether they loved each other or not, she would have still been his property. This restriction of freedom was no longer her cross to bear. The death of her husband would pave her a path for a new life.