"Breath, Eyes, Memory", written by Edwidge Danticat, gives the first person view of a rape child growing up in Haiti. The story expresses the experiences of Sophie Caco ultimately ending with her development into a woman via her mother's death. The struggles that Sophie and her family go through all seem to revolve around two things, rape of the mother and the testing that happens to each woman.
Sophie’s mother, Martine, was raped as a 16 year old girl and from this Sophia was born. Soon after the raping Martine moved to New York to start anew. Sophia’s aunt, Tante Atie, brought Sophia up in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti. Out of the blue Martine called for Sophia to come to America to live with her giving much stress and sadness to Tante Atie. While in America, Sophia meets a new gentleman and upon the exposure of their possible relationship Martine takes upon “testing” for Sophie’s virginity like her mother used to do to her before she was raped. The experience of testing and the rape seemed to have a negative effect on all women in the family. For Sophie it lead to the dissatisfaction with her body, bulimia and an inability to have a healthy sexual relationship with men. For Martine it lead to insanity and the never ending nightmares of the man who raped her. For Tante Atie the experiences lead to the separation of her and her sister which tended to be a common theme for the rest of her life with people suddenly leaving her and not being able to have a loveable close relationship with anyone.
For all of them the experience of ‘testing’ was a cultural influence that enforced the role of men as dominant and degraded women to the stature of sexual items. Specifically, it was shown that women are not valuable unless virgins until marriage. Since “A mothers reputation is dependant on her daughter”(?, I couldn’t find the exact quote) it was imperative that the mother did anything possible to make sure that the daughter made it to marriage by being a virgin. For some this cultural tradition would work out for the better but in this case only harm seems to follow. This is why Sophie says that, “[She] will not test Brigette” because she does not want her go through the trauma that she did.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Joys of Motherhood
“The Joys of Motherhood”, written by Buchi Emecheta, is a novel that spans the life of Nnu Ego. The novel is taken from a third party’s perspective of Nnu Ego’s life and the many hardships that develop from some significant themes. Two of the main themes of this book include colonialism and the power in numbers.
Colonialism is shown throughout most of the novel through a clash of cultures. The two cultures being compared are that of traditional Nigeria and Britain. Nnu Ego, a woman of Ibuza, moves to Lagos, a colonial city of British influence. She is exposed to a new way of life primarily through capitalism and Christianity. The difference in capitalism is through the earning the money and the gender roles that go along with supplying an income for the family. In Lagos, the male was the only one allowed to bring in a salary. The female was able to sell objects, cigarettes for instance, but could not hold a waged position. In traditional Nigerian culture the women was made to work in the field and do manual labor to bring in money for the family.
While in Lagos, Nnu was influenced by Christianity through the structure of the family. The structure differed by the acceptable number of wives a man could have. For traditional Nigerian culture the male could have as many wives as he seemed fit. In Lagos, under the influence of Christianity only one wife was acceptable.
There is a common trend in Emecheta’s writing that shows the power in numbers. From the very beginning of Nnu’s life, she is taught to yearn for motherhood, having a family and existing within a community. While she strives to obtain these goals, she struggles immensely. At different points in the text Nnu is unable to bear a child, does not want to marry and feels separated from the community. Through these struggles, Emecheta shows a strong correlation between Nnu’s ‘group’ dynamic and the hardships that she goes through. The common trend is whenever there is separation between Nnu and a loved one (the group), her husband for instance, there is a struggle that mounts. For instance, when Nnaife goes to Fernado Po (95), Nnu struggles with money due to the separation of her and her husband, the son gets sick and Nnu has to go through childbirth without the father. Due to instances like this families relied a lot on group dynamic and the help and support of neighbors. “… workers would go away for weeks and weeks, leaving their young wives to have babies on their own with no help except that given by neighbours.” (51)
Another example of the power in numbers is the “sitting on the man”. It was mentioned that, in a typical Ibuza family, if the women were not getting what they wanted they could/would join together and hold out on the man’s needs/desires until he gave in. When Nnu and Adaku tried this their plan was ruined by Nnu feeling the need for security. Nonetheless, this common trend shows that there is power in numbers and the significance of being a group instead of an individual.
Colonialism is shown throughout most of the novel through a clash of cultures. The two cultures being compared are that of traditional Nigeria and Britain. Nnu Ego, a woman of Ibuza, moves to Lagos, a colonial city of British influence. She is exposed to a new way of life primarily through capitalism and Christianity. The difference in capitalism is through the earning the money and the gender roles that go along with supplying an income for the family. In Lagos, the male was the only one allowed to bring in a salary. The female was able to sell objects, cigarettes for instance, but could not hold a waged position. In traditional Nigerian culture the women was made to work in the field and do manual labor to bring in money for the family.
While in Lagos, Nnu was influenced by Christianity through the structure of the family. The structure differed by the acceptable number of wives a man could have. For traditional Nigerian culture the male could have as many wives as he seemed fit. In Lagos, under the influence of Christianity only one wife was acceptable.
There is a common trend in Emecheta’s writing that shows the power in numbers. From the very beginning of Nnu’s life, she is taught to yearn for motherhood, having a family and existing within a community. While she strives to obtain these goals, she struggles immensely. At different points in the text Nnu is unable to bear a child, does not want to marry and feels separated from the community. Through these struggles, Emecheta shows a strong correlation between Nnu’s ‘group’ dynamic and the hardships that she goes through. The common trend is whenever there is separation between Nnu and a loved one (the group), her husband for instance, there is a struggle that mounts. For instance, when Nnaife goes to Fernado Po (95), Nnu struggles with money due to the separation of her and her husband, the son gets sick and Nnu has to go through childbirth without the father. Due to instances like this families relied a lot on group dynamic and the help and support of neighbors. “… workers would go away for weeks and weeks, leaving their young wives to have babies on their own with no help except that given by neighbours.” (51)
Another example of the power in numbers is the “sitting on the man”. It was mentioned that, in a typical Ibuza family, if the women were not getting what they wanted they could/would join together and hold out on the man’s needs/desires until he gave in. When Nnu and Adaku tried this their plan was ruined by Nnu feeling the need for security. Nonetheless, this common trend shows that there is power in numbers and the significance of being a group instead of an individual.
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