America vs Haiti

In both sides of the story, the Haitian and the American, there is a prominent generational gap between parents and children. This is especially prominent in the stories “Children of the Sea” and “New York Day Women.” These two stories have drastically different tones and settings, but both have a common theme of the divide between parents and children.

The female character in “Children of the Sea” describes the tense situation between her and her father. He is overprotective of her, and early in the story calls her a “man crazy-whore.” His anger was out of sincerity, but the character had lot of trouble coming to that realization. For a while, the two do not speak. They have trouble understanding each other’s motivations. Eventually, she comes to realize that her father has done everything for her. Slowly, she becomes thankful for his actions, harsh as they were, and understands that he always acted out of care for her. A very similar interaction occurs in “New York Day Women.” The daughter in the story sees her mother on the street, and begins to follow her. She was born in America, and blames her Haitian mother with giving her an unsupportive childhood. As the day progresses, the daughter discovers that while her mother was not taking care of her, she was making money taking care of another child. Again, the daughter learns to appreciate the sacrifices made for her by her parents.

This goes to show that the generational divide is not limited to one experience or situation. Children will always, to some extent, resent their parents, and later in life learn to appreciate them. This experience is not purely Haitian or American. By including this theme throughout all the stories, perhaps Edwidge Danticat wants her readers to look at their own lives with new perspectives, and appreciate what is sacrificed for them.

In the American stories, there is a lack of connection to the culture of Haiti. This is obviously not as present in the Haitian stories, and may speak to Danticat’s own connections. This disconnect is especially interesting in “Caroline’s Wedding.” Caroline was born on American soil, and therefore automatically and American citizen. Her sister, Grace, does not have this privilege. However Grace does not remember Haiti and does not feel like she belongs there either. Until she gets her passport, Grace is a woman without a country to belong to. She feels like she does not have a home. Caroline is completely disconnected from Haiti, and to some extend Grace is too. Both of the girls make fun of the bone soup, which the mother takes as a disconnect to their heritage. However, it is Caroline who jokes about dunking her head into the soup to prove its ineffectiveness to her mother, not Grace. Further, it is Caroline marrying a man her mother does not approve of. It is undeniable that there is more of a disconnect for Caroline then there is for Grace.

This disconnect is not nearly as present in “Nineteen Thirty-Seven.” While the main character, Josephine does feel disconnected from her mother, she still has a connection to the Madonna, and grows to get a strong connection with the voodoo traditions of the country. This is because she is right there, and has no escape from her culture. Josephine would never think to laugh at or doubt the powers of bone soup, because she was raised with the culture and experiences it every day. This theme of disconnection is extremely interesting, because Danticat herself was born in Haiti but left as an adolescent. She remembers enough of it to write like she lives in that society, but also has lived in America for long enough to understand the disconnect.