Krik? Krak!

Write a blog post in response to the first 3 stories. Choose a theme that you see to be common in all 3 and explore what Danticat is showing us or asking us to think about this theme. Analyze 2 direct quotes. 

After been reading all three of the stories, I actually have several ideas about the themes might be appeared. I will just summarise the plot first. The story opens with an unnamed narrator, a young Haitian revolutionary, thinking of his girlfriend. He is on a small boat that has set sail for America. He has to there because of the Haiti government. On the other hand, his girlfriend then is another main character in this story.  While her lover has left the country, she remains behind with her mother and father. The girl and the boy tell their stories through a series of letters. Though they cannot mail these letters, they are still writing letters to each other to express their feelings. Another story is then 1937, which represents the time period of Parsley Massacre. The girl is the narrator yet her mom is actually the main character. Her mom was a survivor during the massacre. In order to prevent her daughter from being killed, she fled to Haiti but left her mother aside. However, in Haiti, she has been arrested due to the practice of voodoo. Then, her daughter has been visiting her during the prison time, yet she was still dead because of the beaten. The third story is about a family. The main characters are Guy, Lili, and their son little Guy. Their family is poor sometimes that they won’t get enough food to eat, yet they support each other in the family. In the school, Little Guy has a huge role, Boukman, which is the revolutionary leader in the old days. Through the lines from his son, Guy gets some motivations. On the other hand, Guy gets his job in the sugar mill. Nevertheless, he finds the hot air balloon is more exciting. Without consent from his wife Lili, he still gets into the hot air balloon, committing suicide. In the three stories, I found that they all have one common-reaching to freedom. In the first story, the female’s father was so eager of getting the girl out of the chaotic town.Papa heard about this. He went to the post and paid them money, all the money he had. our house in port-au-prince and all the land his father had left him, he gave it away to save my life. This sentence displays the determination of the girl’s father. He doesn’t want his girl to endure all the pain. He prepared everything just to let the whole family out of this violent society. After all of the payment is done, he thinks fleeing the town is the best for the family. Therefore, he took his family to Ville Rose to have a better life there. More like free from this chaotic and violent place. Also, the male character is seeking the freedom from leaving Haiti.  In the second story, the wings of flames that the girl mentions in the story represents freedom. Because the soldiers think that the girl’s mother is harmful to the society by applying voodoo in the family. As a result, they decided to burn her in the cell so she will not spread everywhere. However, I think her mother’s soul already was already freed in the river when she dips her toes. Her soul was already mixed into the river and flowed freely. In the third story, when the man knew what he wants at the end. Through the words from his son, he acknowledged his mission, getting freed from this hell. In the end, Lili said to the foreman about closing his eyes or not. She claims:” No, leave them open, my husband likes to look at the sky.” This sentence actually points out the fact that the freedom that her husband is seeking up in the balloon. Guy knew that he should not be working in the latrines. His dreams or his goals was the opposite of doing those jobs. He is inclined to get more heroic jobs, yet his destiny denies his dream. Thus, to highlight his goal,:” I just want to take that big balloon and ride it up in the air. I’d like to sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place with a nice plot of land where I could be something new. I’d build my own house, keep my own garden.” The big balloon he mentions then can be the freedom that he wants for all the time. Like getting out of this place, not going to endure in here anymore. From three of the stories, I get the seeking of freedom the most.