Guy's Son example essay topic

Krik? Krak! Danticat's Krik? Krak! , are a collection of short stories about Haiti and Haitian-Americans before democracy and the horrible conditions that they lived in.

Although it is a mistake to call the stories autobiographical, Krik? Krak! embodies some of Danticat's experiences as a child. While the collection of stories draw on the oral tradition in Haitian society, it is also part of the literature of diaspora, the great, involuntary migration of Africans from their homeland to other parts of the world; thus, the work speaks of loss and assimilation and resistance. The stories all seem to share similar themes, that one story could be in some way linked to the others.

Each story had to deal with relationships, either with a person or a possession, and in these relationships something is either lost or regained. Another point that was shared throughout the short stories was the focus on the struggles of the women in Haiti. Lastly they all seem to weave together the overarching theme of memory. It's through memory and the retelling of old stories and legends that the Haitians in Danticat's tales achieve immortality, and extension to lives that were too often short and brutal. The first story 'Children of the Sea' is between two people in love: a young man on a rickety boat fleeing Haiti because the Maco utes are taking over the country.

The other character is a girl who loves the boy on the boat, and she writes letters to him. Meanwhile he's writing a journal to keep track of happenings on the boat that he plans on giving to her when they meet again. In this story the relationship between Celianne and her newborn child was in my eyes one of the most heartbreaking in the whole book. 'Many people have volunteered to throw Celianne's baby overboard for her. She will not let them. They are waiting for her to go to sleep so they can do it, but she will not sleep.

I never knew before that dead children looked purple' (Danticat, 25). Later the mother would throw the baby overboard, only to jump in after her. This one character illustrates all of the themes that Danticat intertwines throughout the novel. Celianne told the story of how she became pregnant from being raped by the soldiers. That the scar on her face was self-inflicted so that no one would know who she was. At the same time however, this scar is a constant reminder of her past.

Celianne loves her baby without question, even after it passes away, she loves it still the same. In 'A Wall of Fire Rising', the story follows a young couple, Guy and Lili, and their school-age boy. Considering the poor life that the family leads, the family is loving and seems to have escaped from the depressing life of the poor. Guy's son was picked to play the part of Bookman, a slave revolutionary, and while Guy and his son are reciting lines the theme of freedom comes up. Later, when the family is walking through the sugar mill, the reader is told about Guy's fascination with the red hot air balloon. 'Lili walked on slowly with her son.

For the last few weeks, she had been feeling as though Guy was lost to her each time he reached this point, twelve feet away from the balloon' (Danticat, 61). This red balloon symbolizes Guy's freedom, his escape. His freedom though, comes with a price of losing his family. 'If you were to take that balloon and fly away, would you take me and the boy?' (Danticat, 73). Guy never answered Lili's question. Later Guy would finally fulfill his dream of flying the balloon, with his coworkers cheering him on, and his wife and son watching.

Guy achieved his dream of flying the red balloon, and then acted upon his other wish. 'Just to be something new' (Danticat, 73). Guy was finally sick of his life, he was sick of not having work, and he was sick of this place. Guy wanted out, and this was the only way possible.

Perhaps the most poignant part of 'Krik!? Krak!' is the epilogue that reveals why Danticat writes these stories. For her and many other women they represent an oral history passed down from mother to daughter, and from that daughter to her daughter and so on. Each short story in this book is an example of such a rich oral tradition and is very convincing glimpse into the lives of some Haitians and Haitian-Americans.