Breath, Eyes, Memory

Edwidge Danticat

CHARACTERIZATION

Sophie - The story's first-person narrator and its principal protagonist. Sophie is
Martine's daughter, Atie's charge, Grandmè Ifé's granddaughter, Joseph's wife
and Brigitte's mother. A child of rape, Sophie is raised in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti,
by her maternal aunt Atie before being called to New York by her mother at the
age of twelve. Notably, Sophie does not look like her mother, her face reflecting
the unseen face of Martine's attacker. As the child of a poor immigrant in New
York, Sophie must take on the full weight of her mother's and aunt's dreams,
spending six years doing nothing but studying and attending church. She must
also contend with her mother's trauma, insomnia and nightmares, and with her
own conflicting roles as independent woman, loving daughter, savior from
nightmares, and reminder of the past. As an adult, Sophie's insomnia, bulimia and
sexual phobia echo her mother's own problems and insecurities, even as her
loyalty, love, determination and strength reflect her mother's, aunt's and
grandmother's spirit. Yet Sophie's relentless and honest examination of herself
and her inheritance has perhaps paid off: her daughter, Brigitte, is strong and
implacable, suggesting both Caco courage and a break with the more destructive
patterns of her maternal line.
Tante Atie - Sophie's maternal aunt and first guardian, Martine's sister and
Grandmè Ifé's daughter. Atie is devastated by two great betrayals: in her youth,
Donald Augustin promises to marry her and then suddenly marries another
woman, and in her old age, Atie's best friend, Louise, leaves for Miami without so
much as a goodbye. She is a character of great perseverance, faithfully caring for
Sophie at the novel's beginning and for Grandmè Ifé at the novel's end. Yet as the
novel progresses, she becomes understandably bitter at a world that has given
her all the restraints of being a poor woman, a daughter, and a virgin, with none
of its rewards. Illiterate for much of Sophie's childhood, Atie is taught to read by
Louise shortly before the latter's unceremonious departure. Bound to Dame
Marie by duty to her mother, Atie refuses to join Martine in New York and instead
turns increasingly to alcohol. Throughout, Atie remains deeply loyal to Martine
and to her mother, and loves Sophie greatly. Sophie, the beloved child, remains
one of Atie's few consolations against the cruel and indifferent march of fate.
Martine - Sophie's mother, Atie's sister and Grandmè Ifé's daughter. Martine was
raped at the age of sixteen by a masked Macoute in a cane field on her way home
from school. The rape left Martine with a child, Sophie, and a lifetime of vivid
nightmares. Martine's emigration to New York after Sophie's birth, where she
works tirelessly at menial jobs, has meant some precious money for the family. It
has also meant Sophie's chance to leave Haiti and to get an American education, a
chance that Martine invests with all the power of what has been denied her.
Martine's continual struggle to be a good mother to Sophie and a sexually
adequate lover to Marc remain powerfully informed by the twin violations of rape
and of her own mother's practice of testing for virginity. She is a deeply loving and
deeply wounded character, hoping to show her daughter a way beyond her own
life even though she cannot help but perpetuate some of its troubles.
Grandmè Ifé - The matriarch of the Caco family. Grandmè Ifé lives alone in the
remote village of La Nouvelle Dame Marie, Haiti, until Sophie leaves for New York
and Atie comes to Dame Marie to be with her out of duty. She is wise, candid,
practical and astute, with an intuitive knowledge of human nature and a
bottomless reserve of parables. Yet she is also necessarily a product of her world,
content with her provincial village and accepting of its customs and order. In
Martine's and Atie's youth, Grandmè Ifé tested her daughters' virginity in keeping
with what she perceived as a mother's duty, despite the tremendous pain it
caused them. Later, seeing the Macoutes begin to beat a coal-seller in the
marketplace, Grandmè Ifé's first thought is to hurry Sophie home. But while she
does not consider it her place to challenge the social order, Grandmè Ifé is
intensely loyal to her children, loving them against all of the world's pain so that a
granddaughter or great-granddaughter can see her way out from under the
burden.
Joseph - Sophie's first and only boyfriend and eventual husband. Joseph is a
professional musician who lives next door to the house where Sophie and Martine
move during Sophie's eighteenth year. He is an African-American from Louisiana
and can speak a form of Creole, giving him an immediate kinship with Sophie.
Though old enough to be Sophie's father, Joseph is honest, gentle, loving and
sure, in stark contrast to the violence, sleaziness and treachery of many of the
novel's men. He is deeply supportive of Sophie, committed to helping her as best
he can, and enormously proud of their infant daughter.
Marc - Martine's long-time lover in New York. Marc is a stocky, well-dressed
Haitian lawyer, in love with his mother's cooking and by his own full name, Marc
Jolibois Francis Legrand Moravien Chevalier (the last word meaning knight). He is
slightly patronizing of Sophie and treats her as a child throughout the book. He is
kind to Martine, though he does not deeply understand her, as symbolized by his
ability to sleep like a log during most of her nightmares. Though his affection for
Martine seems genuine, he retains the slightly sleazy air of one too well-
connected, a lawyer intent on evading blame.
Monsieur Augustin - A relatively affluent and handsome neighbor of Sophie's and
Tante Atie's in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti. Though once in love with Atie, he married
another woman, a betrayal from which Atie has never recovered. His post as
teacher at the local school distinguishes him in the community as a man with a
profession.
Madame Augustin - Wife of Donald Augustin. Lotus is a pretty, gossipy and self-
important woman whom Donald chose to marry, breaking his engagement with
Atie.
Brigitte - Sophie's daughter by Joseph. The infant Brigitte has a remarkable face
in which Grandmè Ifé can see the traces of generations of ancestors. She is calm,
quiet and sleeps peacefully, signs that perhaps she has not inherited the insomnia
and nightmares of her mother and grandmother.
Louise - A vendor in the marketplace of La Nouvelle Dame Marie. Louise becomes
Tante Atie's best friend once Atie returns to Dame Marie from Croix-des-Rosets to
take care of the aging Grandmè Ifé. Though Louise teaches the adult Atie to read
and write, she remains a troubling influence, implicated in Atie's night wanderings
and her increasing alcoholism. Louise's dream is to save enough money to take a
boat to Miami, despite the great risks of the journey. She appears as a deeply
desperate woman, continually seeking a buyer for her pig in order to raise the
money for her trip. When Grandmè Ifé, fed up with Louise's effect on Atie, finally
buys Louise's pig, Louise departs without so much as a goodbye to Atie, leaving
Atie heartbroken for a second time.
Rena - Sophie's therapist and the instigator of the sexual phobia group. Rena is a
gorgeous black woman who wears bangles and bright prints and smokes as she
theorizes. She has spent two years in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic
and is an initiated Santeria priestess.
Buki - One of three members of Sophie's sexual phobia group. Buki is an
Ethiopian college student who was ritually genitally mutilated by her
grandmother as a girl.
Davina - The second member and hostess of Sophie's sexual phobia group.
Davina is a middle-aged Chicana who was raped by her grandfather as a girl over a
period of ten years.
Chabin - The albino lottery agent in Croix-des-Rosets, Haiti, from whom Atie
faithfully buys lottery tickets, though she rarely wins.
The Tonton Macoutes - Creole for "Uncle Bogeyman." Refers to the private
militia first conscripted under Francois Duvalier, Haitian president from 1957–
1971, and formally known as the VSN (Volontaires de la Sécurite Nationale).
They are widely feared as torturers, assassins and agents of arbitrary cruelty.
Dessalines - The poor coal seller in the marketplace of La Nouvelle Dame Marie.
Dessalines is capriciously beaten and finally killed by Macoute soldiers during
Sophie's trip to Haiti with her infant daughter in Section Three. His name suggests
the General Dessalines, born a slave, who fought with Toussaint L'Ouverture
against the French to establish an independent Haiti. When L'Ouverture was
arrested by the French in 1802, Dessalines became the revolution's leader,
winning a decisive battle at Vertieres against Napoleon's armies, declaring Haiti
an independent state in 1804 and ruling it until his assasination in 1806. Though
he was by no means an unproblematic figure, Dessalines is widely remembered as
the father of Haitian independence. The ironic coincidence of the coal seller's
name indicates the extent to which the current government has oppressed the
Haitian people.