I apologize for completely forgetting to post this over the weekend. Here is my entry on Danticat's ability to splice stories into her autobiography, a technique that actually seems to remove Edwidge from the horrors of her own story.
One story that I think of off the top of my head is the folk tale that Edwidge shares with her readers in the final pages of her book. After Edwidge's father dies, one of Granme Melina's stories is included to serve as a parallel to what is going on in Edwidge's life. The story ends with the following passages:
"...The daughter took the false teeth in her hands and looked at them with great sadness, but also with a new sense of courage. 'As my father wishes, so it shall be,' she said. "We will have the wake to honor him, to rejoice and celebrate his life before his body is put in the ground. We will eat. We will sing. We will dance and tell stories. But most importantly, we will speak of my father. For it is not our way to let our grief silence us" (pg. 267).
This brief story allows readers to know exactly how Edwidge dealt with her father's death (and also her uncle's, I'm sure). Of course she wanted her father back at first. Of course she wanted to raise him from the dead. Grief is sometimes handled with this form of denial and not being able to recognize that the dead individual is gone forever. However, Edwidge eventually came to terms with her father's death and accepted what had occured. She decided that it was more important to honor her father by remembering him through stories, rather than remaining in a state of complete mourning.
The final portion of the passage actually reminds me of the character I am playing in "SNAFU: Unplugged." Jaimee is considered "the one who talks" in order to deal with her father's death. She loves to tell stories about him in order to remember. When I read the passage, especially the line about not allowing grief to silence you, I could not help but think of Jaimee!
One story that I think of off the top of my head is the folk tale that Edwidge shares with her readers in the final pages of her book. After Edwidge's father dies, one of Granme Melina's stories is included to serve as a parallel to what is going on in Edwidge's life. The story ends with the following passages:
"...The daughter took the false teeth in her hands and looked at them with great sadness, but also with a new sense of courage. 'As my father wishes, so it shall be,' she said. "We will have the wake to honor him, to rejoice and celebrate his life before his body is put in the ground. We will eat. We will sing. We will dance and tell stories. But most importantly, we will speak of my father. For it is not our way to let our grief silence us" (pg. 267).
This brief story allows readers to know exactly how Edwidge dealt with her father's death (and also her uncle's, I'm sure). Of course she wanted her father back at first. Of course she wanted to raise him from the dead. Grief is sometimes handled with this form of denial and not being able to recognize that the dead individual is gone forever. However, Edwidge eventually came to terms with her father's death and accepted what had occured. She decided that it was more important to honor her father by remembering him through stories, rather than remaining in a state of complete mourning.
The final portion of the passage actually reminds me of the character I am playing in "SNAFU: Unplugged." Jaimee is considered "the one who talks" in order to deal with her father's death. She loves to tell stories about him in order to remember. When I read the passage, especially the line about not allowing grief to silence you, I could not help but think of Jaimee!
2 comments:
Ha I see the point about Jaimee. It's hard for me to relate my character to anyone else because she's so close to being me and I don't know who I am similar to...
Good call, Margaret! Well, I mean, the character IS you. So you should not be able to relate her to anyone else but yourself. :b Here's to Erin and Eric having another stellar night!
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