Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti in 1969 and grew up during a tumultuous period in the country s history.

By the time Danticat was four years old, both of her parents had left Haiti for the United States, but Danticat stayed with her aunt and uncle in Port-au-Prince, the capital. While there, she learned Haitian storytelling traditions, which is where Krik? Krak! gets its title. In Haiti, krik? is a request to tell a story, and obliging listeners answer krak. Danticat began writing stories as a child, and in 1981, when she was twelve, she joined her parents in Brooklyn, where she began speaking English instead of her native Creole (a blend of African dialects and French). After attending Barnard College, she went to Brown University to earn an MFA in creative writing. All of Danticat s books deal with the Haiti that Danticat knew as a child, its tortured history, and the complicated politics that caused her to leave the country. Danticat s first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), is narrated by Sophie, a Haitian girl with a history that is superficially similar to Danticat s own. Sophie is raised by her aunt in Haiti until she joins her mother in New York at age twelve. When Sophie finds out she was conceived when her mother was raped, their relationship, already difficult because of their long separation, becomes strained by issues of sexuality. Krik? Krak! (1995) was published next and nominated for a National Book Award. Danticat s next novel, The Farming of the Bones (1998), concerns the 1937 massacre of Haitians who were trying to leave the Dominican Republic, an action ordered by its dictator, Rafael Trujillo Molinas. The massacre is also the subject of the short story Nineteen Thirty-Seven in Krik? Krak!. Recently, Danticat published The Dew Breaker (2004) about a man who used to be a torturer for the Haitian government and the many lives he affected. Danticat has also been involved with several anthologies of writings by diverse Haitian and Haitian-American authors. She often says that her voice is only one of many representing the Haitian people and refuses to be a spokesperson for the whole nation.

Haiti is on the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492 and claimed it for the Spanish, who imported African slaves to work on plantations. However, the Spanish population was concentrated on the eastern half of the island, and French pirates began conquering the western half. In 1697, a treaty gave the French possession of what is now Haiti. Producing abundant amounts of sugar, indigo, cotton, tobacco, and rum, among other things, Haiti quickly became one of the most economically successful settlements in the Caribbean. However, the profitable exploitation of slaves came to an end as repressed mulattoes and then black slaves began to revolt. In 1791, a slave named Boukman used voodoo priests and rituals to lead the first significant slave revolt. This set off a number of smaller revolts, leading to the revolution of the slave and General Toussaint L Ouverture, who took control of all of Hispaniola, oversaw the end of slavery on the island, and established Haiti s independence in 1804. Toussaint was killed by Napoleon, but Haiti remained independent. Its first ruler, Dessalines, made it a military force and executed the majority of the country s white population.

Haiti s former wealth all but disappeared, replaced by an extreme poverty and illiteracy that only worsened over the next few centuries. Early twentieth-century attempts by the United States to establish security in the country, including an American occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, failed. In 1957, a fraudulent election made a doctor named Franois Papa Doc Duvalier Haiti s president. Duvalier became a despotic ruler and declared himself president for life. His tonton macoutes, a ruthless secret police named after a mythical Haitian monster, terrorized the nation, arresting or killing the government s critics. Duvalier compared himself to both Haitian voodoo spirits and Jesus Christ, exploiting the country s religious influences. He avoided deposition by the United States by opposing communism and allied himself with the Dominican Republic s dictator, Trujillo (who in 1937 had massacred Haitians at the Dominican border). But while Duvalier s political power and wealth increased, Haiti became the poorest country in the Americas. Duvalier stole as much money and land from his people as possible, using foreign aid money for his personal gain. The small percentage of educated Haitians fled the country for economic or political reasons.

When Duvalier died in 1971, his son, Jean-Claude Baby Doc Duvalier, continued his legacy of political tyranny and economic exploitation while making superficial reforms to improve Haiti s international reputation. Baby Doc was deposed in 1986 because of opposition from both the Haitian people and the United States government. He left behind a power vacuum that resulted in military control, despite many attempts at democratic elections. In 1991, democracy seemed to be established with the election of Jean Bertrand Aristide. However, Aristide was overthrown months later by a military coup. In 1994, the United States government, under pressure from its Haitian citizens, restored Aristide to the presidency with threats of military invasion. Several democratic elections followed, but Haiti s political status remains unstable, and its economic conditions are still the worst in the western hemisphere. Communities of Haitian immigrants and their Haitian-American descendants, including Danticat, remain in the United States.

The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat

Thursday, April 15, 2010 at 2:45 PM

Title: The Farming of Bones Author: Edwidge Danticat Publisher: SoHo Press Inc.; New York Date: 1998 ISBN: 1569471266 Genre: Historical Fiction Format: Hardcover, 312 pages Rating:

The Farming of Bones is the story of Annabelle Dsir and the progression of her life from young hand maiden/midwife to orphan to lover to survivor of a historical massacre of huge

proportions.

Her struggle is a memorable one. Again, the author has

seemed to have styled the main character after herself. Her memories of her mother are endearing but haunting. The scriptural reference to Judges 12:4-6 on the fly page is key to the author's depiction of the struggle between Haiti and the Dominican. I sensed a grief-imposed maturity in 8-year-old Annabelle that caused her to understand that although she had grown to love Senora Valencia, they were in different stations in life. I liked that she was able to recognize the basic human instinct to love yet separate it from that of survival. Her love for Senora Valencia and her family was a nurturing one; and not selfsacrificing as seemed to be the case with fellow servants Juana and Luis. We later watch her infatuation with cane cropper Sebastien Onius clearly blossom into a mature level of love. The romance of their relationship is a respite from the hardships uncovered in this story.

The title refers to the local term for sugar cane harvesting in that the physical characteristics of the sugarcanes are likened to those of bones. Annabelle reminisces of Sebastien: ". . . mornings when he woke up and begrudged the sound of the cane being cut because it reminded him of the breaking of dry chicken bones." Once when I woke up, I thought I felt the ground shaking. Powdered dust and pebbles sifted down from above us. I clung to the soil with my fingers. Then, realizing that this would be a cowardly way to die, I shook a mound of dirt off me and stood up. Everyone rose and roamed in circles, trying to establish what was taking place. Then just as abruptly as it had started, the mountain's shaking stopped.

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Top of page Opening Line: "His name is Sebastien Onius. "

Leading up to the massacre, Annabelle's feverish mind was witness to tale after treacherous tale of each sojourner's sights or experiences. I felt the swelling of unrest in the crowd that had patiently waited day-in-and-day-out to speak with the Justice of the Peace about their respective plights only to be turned away with no one to listen. The author chose to convey dream sequences as entire chapters in bold font a format also used for Annabelle's times of self-reflection. The decreasing appearance of dream chapters signaled to me a time of unrest in Annabelle's life. I sensed her lack of sleep as I thumbed through the remaining pages looking for the dream passages. Ah! There was one more. I set aside a time when I would not be disturbed to finish the book. I could finish my reading with hope. In my quest to learn more about Haiti, The Farming of Bones satisfied my curiosity to a degree. But I still need to know more. The use of copies of President Stnio Vincent's letter from 1937 on the endpapers was a tasteful way to further engage the discriminating reader. This French document is a supporting one to this work. I will search for a translated English version. The cover art captures the scene of a cane field with the background of the waterfall to which Annabelle was continually drawn.

Throughout the reading, I thought the author should have included a glossary to help the American reader understand Haitian terminology. But by the time I finished the book, I believed I understood the omission. I then wondered if Danticat knew the time would come when her works would be widely read. Did she feel it her native duty to merely pique the attention of her readers to the point of continuing to read about the history of Haiti in other works? In the Acknowledgements, the author's sentiment to her mother reads: To my manman, my muse, who taught me all about psi and other mysteries. Yes, I do always remember that these stories and all the others are yours to tell and not mine. I've interpreted the expression captured in the author's jacket photo as an extension of this sentiment, saying, "I've poured my life into sharing the stories you told me. My heart is filled with hope that you are pleased with my endeavor." After viewing the author's suggested reading list, I have selected The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier by Amy Wilentz as a trusted and documented source for more detail on the history of this country. I will read and review it in Spring 2010. I can picture myself reaching for The Farming of Bones again in the distant future. For now, however, I look forward to reading more of Danticat's works.

The Farming of Bones: Introduction

The Farming of Bones, Danticat told Megan Rooney in The Brown Daily Herald, is a survivor's story, based on the true story of a woman who was killed in the massacre. But I wanted her to live, Danticat says, and in the book, she does. The book, which has received almost universally favorable reviews, is based on historical facts, filtered through Haitian tales and oral history, a collage of various characters and experiences from my upbringing in Haiti, she told Rooney.

Although Danticat was still in her twenties when her first book, Breath, Eyes, Memory, was published, it received critical acclaim and was selected for Oprah Winfrey's book club, rocketing it to the top of the bestseller lists and commercial success. This success eventually led Penguin to pay $200,000 for the paperback rights to The Farming of Bones.

Danticat spent several years researching the events in The Farming of Bones, traveling to Haiti as many as four times a year. After visiting the Massacre River there in 1995, she realized that she wanted to write a book about the 1937 massacre of Haitians by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. When she visited, there was no sign of the mass killings that occurred so many decades ago: a woman was washing clothes in the water, a man was letting a mule drink, and two boys were bathing. The river itself was small and slow, nowhere near the high-water mark that once swallowed hundreds of bodies. I had come looking for deaths, she wrote in Kreyol, but I found habitualness, routine, life.

Despite this peace, or perhaps because of it because the event and the people who suffered in it seemed to have been lost and forgotten she decided to memorialize them by writing the book. I felt like I was standing on top of a huge mass grave, and just couldn't see the bodies, she told Mallay Charters in Publishers Weekly, and reflected, It's part of our history as Haitians, but it's also a part of the history of the world. Writing about it is an act of remembrance.

Danticat does not merely write about Haiti, but is still active in the Haitian community. With writer Junot Diaz she runs Haitian-Dominican youth groups in New York, and also works with the National Coalition for Human Rights as part of a grant from the Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Foundation.

Plot introduction The Farming of Bones begins with narrator Amabelle Desir speaking of her lover, Sebastian Onius. These two Haitians are later separated following the beginning of the 1937 massacre. Amabelle begins a long journey in pursuit of news of her love, and along the way encounters various difficult obstacles.
[edit]Explanation

of the novel's title

The title The Farming of Bones is alluded to in Chapter 10 when Amabelle refers to the cane life as travay te pou zo, or the farming of bones. Working in the cane fields prove to be dangerous and even life threatening as it scars and mutilates many of the workers. However, the farming of bones also refers to digging up the past. Inundated with references to the past, the story contains many instances where characters are unable to move on. For example, Amabelle constantly dwells upon not only memories of her dead parents, but also memories with Sebastien. In addition, Yves feels guilty for living when Joel saves Yvess life by pushing him out of the way of Senor Picos automobile. Despite being able to survive the massacre and his success in farming, Yves cannot move on, wondering why he was not the one to die not only in the accident, but also during the killings. Furthermore, Don Ignacio fails to forget his involvement in the military regardless of his exile to another country. Decades later, he cannot feel happy for the birth of his granddaughter, for he believes that his losses may be consequences of his past. Many people throughout the story are like this and as a result are like living dead, walking the earth to seek answers to unanswered questions.
[edit]Background

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Edwidge Danticat visited the Massacre River in 1995 and was surprised by the domestic routines taking place. The people at the river were unaware of the brutal killings that had taken place there years ago. Realizing that the horrific occurrences of the 1937 massacre had been forgotten, Danticat was determined to memorialize the victims and their suffering, by telling their stories and spreading knowledge. In 1937, the President of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo, commanded his army to kill all Haitians. The majority were killed with machetes as ordered by Trujillo. Thousands were killed in the process of attempting to return to Haiti. 1 Trujillos supposed inspiration for the massacre started when the Dominicans complained of Haitian thefts. He reassured his people that he would stop this treachery. His real motive however was to segregate the two peoples. He wanted to separate the Dominicans from the Haitians to establish more control and provide a clear division between the two countries. With tens of thousands of Haitians

dead after five days of killing the result was only that Trujillo's power was weakened. Ultimately, Trujillo was assassinated in 1961.
[edit]Structure

The Farming of Bones is told in first person narrative through the character of Amabelle Desir. Amabelle narrates in past tense with memories and dreams interlaced within it. The story is not told from the beginning of Amabelles life but instead, it encapsulates the period of the life leading to the massacre and her life after. The memories and dreams intermingled within the story gives insight into her character and add to story development. For instance, many of the chapters that consist of a single memory deal with her parents. These memories delve into Amabelles haunting past and reveal information about her development as a character. Further comprehension of Amabelles life and development as a character is accomplished by the authors use of second-person narration in Chapter 19, the single time that the character breaks the third wall that separates her from the narrator. For example, Amabelle says: At first you are afraid to step behind the waterfall as the water in all its strength pounds down on your shoulders. Still you tiptoe into the cave This is a reflection of Amabelles life throughout the story as although she is afraid of what may come, she still searches for Sebastian even with the risk of death closely by her side. Edwidge Danticat attributes her love for storytelling to those of Haitian women who congregate to tell their stories, known as kitchen poets.2 The style of The Farming of Bones is reminiscent of kitchen poets. And in Sylvies eyes was a longing I knew very well, from the memory of it as it was once carved into my younger face: I will bear anything, carry any load, suffer any shame, walk with eyes to the ground, if only for the very small chance that one day our fates might come to being somewhat closer and I would be granted for all my years of travail and duty an honestly gained life that in some extremely modest way would begin to resemble hers. (Ch. 41 Pg. 306) Danticat uses Amabelle to tell the story as if she is an older woman, trying to teach the newer generation about the past in hopes that they can learn from it. In this case, Amabelle intimates her failures of her past and hopes that the younger generation, Sylvie, will be able to learn what Amabelle had.
[edit]Major

Formal Strategies

In terms of literary devices, Danticat relies very heavily on symbolism to apply to a more general truth. For example, water, in different forms, symbolized different things throughout

the book, changing its meaning just as fluidly as water changes its shape. For example, at first the Massacre River symbolized Amabelles loss, most prominently, the loss of her parents. However, while escaping to Haiti, the Massacre River represented the means to a new life, an obstacle to overcome, and what she had to lose to get there. At the end of the story, the Massacre River meant her acceptance of her past, looking for the dawn (Ch. 41, p.310). Lastly, the waterfall represented not only the importance of overcoming fear, but also the need to look forward. In Chapter 19, Amabelle is afraid to cross the waterfall, however, once she does, she finds that it makes you want to celebrate yourself (100), but in Chapter 41, the waterfall is where she thinks she will find Sebastien. However, after returning to the river, she does not find and him and realizes that he didnt come out and show himself. He stayed inside the waterfall (306). Danticat frequently uses shadows to represent a link to the past that cannot be forgotten or lost, much like a persons shadow that never leaves. Amabelles shadows of her past were the death of her parents and her loss of Sebastien. This is further developed when Danticat reveals that Amabelle found solace in playing with shadows as a child, demonstrating her comfort in living in her past. Another marked symbol in The Farming of Bones is parsley. It is the pronunciation of parsley that determines who lives and who dies in the Dominican Republic. In one instance, parsley is referred to being used to cleanse insides as well as outsides and perhaps the Generalissimo in some larger order was trying to do the same for his country (Ch.29 p. 203). In this case, the Generalissimo uses parsley as a determinate of life or death. Furthermore, in another instance, parsley is an ability to conform to others, for the Haitians it is that their own words reveal who belongs on what side (Ch.41, p.304), the result of which is death. This marked difference that the Haitians are unable to conceal, is like the mole of Felice. The noticeable birthmark of Felice is something that she cannot escape and having it, results in prejudices against her, most specifically Kongos inability to accept her worth as a person. Not only does Danticat utilize dreams as a vehicle of character development, but she also uses dreams as a vehicle for the characters to escape reality and nightmares as a means to haunt them of their past. While Amabelle frequently dreams of her parents drowning in the river, Sebastien dreams of his fathers death in the hurricane. Yves is tortured with nightmares of his father, with his eyes wide open and glazed over, he says, Papa, dont die on that plate of food. Please let me take it away (Ch.22 p.129). Although Amabelle, Sebastien, and Yves can try to move on from the past during their daily lives, they cannot escape the truth of their nightmares. However, the characters inThe Farming of

Bones continue to try to find solace in the comfort of their dreams. Amabelle says, I looked to my dreams for softness, for a gentler embrace, for relief from the fear of mudslides and blood bubbling out of the riverbed (Ch. 41, p.310). As a refuge from the rigors of real life, dreams serve as amulets to protect us from evil spells (Ch.37 p.265) or to protect the Haitians from the harshness of reality. In fact, Man Denise seeks refuge from her life and the pain of losing her children, saying Im going to dream up my children (Ch.33 p.243). Although the characters depend on dreams to protect and mollify them, providing an escape from reality, dreams are not always guaranteed and nightmares may actually come to haunt them in their sleep. Lastly, sugarcane is another important symbol found in the book. One of Amabelles recurring dreams is one of the sugar woman. The chains bind the sugar woman and she wears a silver muzzle. This muzzle was given to the sugar woman so that she would not eat the sugarcane. However, despite her confinements, she is dancing. Much like the workers, they come to the Dominican Republic to find work and a better life and stay due to the work that they find in the mills that they cannot find in Haiti. Regardless of their hard work, the workers cannot taste the sweetness of the sugarcane; instead, they are bound by it. In fact, they cannot escape it. Danticat even describes Sebastien with his sweat as thick as sugarcane juice and many of his defining scars a result of working in the cane fields. Aside from Danticats use of symbolism, foreshadowing is also heavily prevalent. For example, the doctors states that many of us start out as twins in the belly and do away with each other (Ch.4, p.19). This foreshadows not only the death of Rafael, but also the fate of the Haitians. The Haitians and the Dominican both hail from the same island and struggle to survive among the same resources. 1 However, it is the Dominicans who try to do away with the Haitians in the form of the killings. In addition, the twins serve as further foreshadowing in terms of the Rosalindas caul and Rafaels death. The caul served as an omen of bad luck to come and Rafaels unexpected death foreshadowed many more deaths, such as the sudden death of Kongos son and the unprecedented number of deaths of Haitians.
[edit]Plot

summary

Set in the Dominican Republic in the 1930s, The Farming of Bones tells the story of a young Haitian girl named Amabelle Desir. Orphaned by the age of 8, Amabelle works for Don Ignacio and his daughter. Although Don Ignacio and his daughter are important figures in Amabelles life, it is evident that Amabelles life revolves around her lover, Sebastien Onius. After the accidental death of one of Sebastiens fellow cane workers, the Haitians distrust of

the Dominican government grows, but this distrust is warranted. With news of the Generalissimos intentions to cleanse the country, Haitian workers attempt to return to their home country. When complications separate Amabelle and Sebastien during their attempt to flee, Amabelle is desperate to find what has become of Sebastien. Accompanied by Sebastiens friend, Yves, Amabelle makes her journey with the help of fellow survivors she encounters along the way. While escaping, the group must divide for their own safety. Upon reaching the town of Dajabon, Amabelle is disappointed to find that Sebastien is not there. While in Dajabon, Dominicans beat and torture Amabelle, Yves, and a fellow Haitian, Tibon, after recognizing their inability to pronounce perejil correctly, one of the most prevalent ways that the Dominicans determine the segregation of Haitians. On the verge of death, two remaining members of their group rescue Amabelle and Yves and bring them to the river that they must cross. Unfortunately only Amabelle and Yves survive the dangerous crossing, where they are met at the other side by nuns who nurse them back to health. During the recovery process, Amabelle learns of the other survivors story of kout kouto, what the Haitians call the massacre. Once Amabelle and Yves have healed, Yves offers to take Amabelle to his home. Upon arrival of the city, Amabelle and Yves settle in his home and try to rebuild their lives. While Yves finds solace in working in his fathers fields and becomes a successful landowner, Amabelle continues her search for Sebastien. After finding Sebastiens mother and learning of the truth about Sebastiens fate, Amabelle returns to her life with Yves. Although Yves and Amabelle try to find comfort in one another, they are unable to fulfill each others needs. Twenty years after her escape from Alegria, Amabelle decides to search for a connection to Sebastien by reliving old memories in places of the past. Despite reuniting with Senora Valencia, Amabelle is dissatisfied with the results of her search. Unable to find further reason to live, Amabelle succumbs to the Massacre River, looking for a new beginning.
[edit]Setting

Set in 1937, the story starts out in Alegria which consists of many sugarcane mills that requires workers. However, with the governments intentions to cleanse the country, the story soon travels within the Dominican Republic as far as the Massacre River that borders the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Once Amabelle and Yves reach Haiti, the setting is mostly concentrated in the town that Yves is from, the Cap. Amabelle returns to Haiti briefly to Alegria and the story ends with her in the Massacre River.

[edit]Thesis

Importance of Remembering the Past One of the Danticat's major themes is the purpose of the book itself which is to emphasize the importance of remembering the past. Throughout the book the Haitian workers make a point of retelling and remembering all that happened to them. This is because there is a major fear of forgetting the names and the faces of their loved ones.
[edit]Literary

significance and reception

Published in 1998, The Farming of Bones received numerous critiques raving about Danticat's ability to make history come to life within the readers' minds. "Every chapter cuts deep, and you feel it. The Farming of Bones always remains focused, with precise, disciplined language, and in doing so, it uncovers moments of raw humanness. This is a book that, confronted with corpses, has the cold-eyed courage to find a smile." - Time magazine 3 "Sensuously atmospheric...perfectly paced...lushly poetic and erotic...and starkly realistic." Publishers Weekly 4
[edit]

Author Born January 19, 1969, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; immigrated to United States, 1981; daughter of Andr Miracin (a cab driver) and Rose Souvenance (a textile worker) Danticat. Education: Barnard College, B.A. 1990; Brown University, M.F.A., 1993.

Career
Author, educator, and lecturer, 1994. Professor, New York University, New York, NY, 1996-97; visiting professor of creative writing, University of Miami, Miami, FL, spring, 2000. Also production and research assistant at Clinica Estetico, 1993-94. Member: Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Awards: Named one of 20 Best of American Novelists by Granta, 1996; Pushcart Prize for short fiction; American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation, for The Farming of Bones ; fiction awards from periodicals, including Caribbean Writer, Seventeen, and Essence ; Lannan Foundation Fellowship, 2004; Story Prize for outstanding collection of short fiction, for The Dew Breaker, 2005.

Sidelights
Fiction writer Edwidge Danticat (pronounced Ed-WEEDJ Dan-ti-KAH) conjures the history of her native Haiti in award-winning short stories and Edwidge Danticat novels. She is equally at home describing the immigrant experiencewhat she calls "dyaspora"and the reality of life in Haiti today. Danticat's fiction "has been devoted to an unflinching examination of her native culture, both on its own terms and in terms of its intersections with American culture," wrote an essayist in Contemporary Novelists. "Danticat's work emphasizes in particular the heroism and endurance of Haitian women as they cope with a patriarchal culture that, in its unswerving devotion to tradition and family, both oppresses and enriches them." Readers will find "massacres, rapes, [and] horrible nightmares in Danticat's fiction," wrote an essayist in the St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, "but above all these are the strength, hope, and joy of her poetic vision." Danticat's first novel, the loosely autobiographical Breath, Eyes, Memory, was a 1998 selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, thus assuring its bestseller status. Other Danticat works have won warm praise as well, with some critics expressing surprise that such assured prose has come from an author so young. Antioch Review correspondent Grace A. Epstein praised Danticat for "the real courage in excavating the romance of nationalism, identity, and home." Time reporter Christopher John Farley likewise concluded that Danticat's

fiction "never turns purple, never spins wildly into the fantastic, always remains focused, with precise disciplined language, and in doing so, it uncovers moments of raw humanness." Danticat was born in Haiti and lived there the first 12 years of her life. She came to the United States in 1981, joining her parents who had already begun to build a life for themselves in New York City. When she started attending junior high classes in Brooklyn, she had difficulty fitting in with her classmates because of her Haitian accent, clothing, and hairstyle. Danticat recalled for Garry Pierre-Pierre in the New York Times that she took refuge from the isolation she felt by writing about her native land. As an adolescent she began work on what would evolve into her first novel, the acclaimed Breath, Eyes, Memory. Danticat followed her debut with a 1995 collection of short stories, Krik? Krak! a volume which became a finalist for that year's National Book Award. According to Pierre-Pierre, the young author has been heralded as "'the voice' of Haitian Americans," but Danticat told him, "I think I have been assigned that role, but I don't really see myself as the voice for the Haitian-American experience. There are many. I'm just one." Danticat's parents wanted her to pursue a career in medicine, and with the goal of becoming a nurse, she attended a specialized high school in New York City. But she abandoned this aim to devote herself to her writing. An earlier version of Breath, Eyes, Memory served as her master of fine arts thesis at Brown University, and the finished version was published shortly thereafter. Like Danticat herself, Sophie Cacothe novel's protagonistspent her first 12 years in Haiti, several in the care of an aunt, before coming wide-eyed to the United States. But there the similarities end. Sophie is the child of a single mother, conceived by rape. Though she rejoins her mother in the United States, it is too late to save the still-traumatized older woman from selfdestruction. Yet women's ties to women are celebrated in the novel, and Sophie draws strength from her mother, her aunt, and herself in order to escape her mother's fate. Breath, Eyes, Memory caused some controversy in the Haitian-American community. Some of Danticat's fellow Haitians felt that some of the practices she documented portrayed them as primitive and abusive. American critics, however, widely lauded Breath, Eyes, Memory. Joan Philpott in Ms. hailed the book as "intensely lyrical." Pierre-Pierre reported that reviewers "have praised Ms. Danticat's vivid sense of place and her images of fear and pain." Jim Gladstone concluded in the New York Times Book Review that the novel "achieves an emotional complexity that lifts it out of the realm of the potboiler and into that of poetry." And Bob Shacochis, in his Washington Post Book World review, called the work "a novel that rewards a reader again and again with small but exquisite and unforgettable epiphanies." Shacochis added, "You can actually see Danticat grow and mature, come into her own strength as a writer, throughout the course of this quiet, soul-penetrating story about four generations of women trying to hold on to one another in the Haitian diaspora." Krik? Krak! takes its title from the practice of Haitian storytellers. Danticat told Deborah Gregory of Essence that storytelling is a favorite entertainment in Haiti, and a storyteller inquires of his or her audience, "Krik?" to ask if they are ready to listen. The group then replies with an enthusiastic, "Krak!" The tales in this collection include one about a man attempting to flee Haiti in a leaky boat, another about a prostitute who tells her son that the reason she dresses up every night is that she is expecting an angel to descend upon their house, and yet another explores the feelings of a childless housekeeper in a loveless marriage who finds an abandoned

baby in the streets. The New York Times Book Review 's Robert Houston, citing the fact that some of the stories in Krik? Krak! were written while Danticat was still an undergraduate at Barnard College, felt that these pieces were "out of place in a collection presumed to represent polished, mature work." But Ms. 's Jordana Hart felt that the tales in Krik? Krak! "are textured and deeply personal, as if the 26-year-old Haitian-American author had spilled her own tears over each." Even Houston conceded that readers "weary of stories that deal only with the minutiae of 'relationships' will rejoice that they have found work that is about something, and something that matters." Danticat's 1998 novel, The Farming of Bones, concerns a historical tragedy, the 1937 massacre of Haitian farm workers by soldiers from the Dominican Republic. In the course of less than a week, an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic were slaughtered by the Dominican government or by private citizens in a classic case of "ethnic cleansing." The Farming of Bones is narrated by a young Haitian woman, Amabelle Desir, who has grown up in the Dominican Republic after being orphaned. As the nightmare unfolds around her, Amabelle must flee for her life, separated from her lover, Sebastien. In the ensuing decades as she nurses her physical and psychological wounds, Amabelle serves as witness to the suffering of her countrymen and the guilt of her former Dominican employers. The massacre, Danticat told Mallay Charters in Publishers Weekly, is "a part of our history, as Haitians, but it's also a part of the history of the world. Writing about it is an act of remembrance." Dean Peerman wrote in Christian Century that " Breath, Eyes, Memory was an impressive debut, but The Farming of Bones is a richer work, haunting and heartwrenching." In Nation, Zia Jaffrey praised Danticat for "blending history and fiction, imparting information, in the manner of nineteenth-century novelists, without seeming to." Jaffrey added: "Danticat's brilliance as a novelist is that she is able to put this event into a credible, human context." Time 's Farley also felt that the author was able to endow a horrific episode with a breath of humanity. "Every chapter cuts deep, and you feel it," he stated, continuing on to say that Amabelle's "journey from servitude to slaughter is heartbreaking." In Americas, Barbara Mujica concluded that Danticat has written "a gripping novel that exposes an aspect of Dominican-Haitian history rarely represented in Latin American fiction. In spite of the desolation and wretchedness of the people Danticat depicts, The Farming of Bones is an inspiring book. It is a hymn to human resilience, faith, and hope in the face of overwhelming adversity." Jaffrey ended her review by concluding that the novel is "a beautifully conceived work, with monumental themes." The 2002 novel Behind the Mountains takes the form of a diary of teenage Haitian Celiane Esperance. Celiane is happy in her home in the mountains of Haiti, but she has not seen her father since he left for the United States years before. She had intended to join him in New York, along with her mother and older brother, but visa applications are inexorably slow. After eight years, the visas are granted, and the family reunites in Brooklyn. After an initially joyful reunion, however, the family begins to slowly unravel. A child when her father left Haiti, Celiane is now a young woman with her own mind and will. Her brother, Moy, a 19-year-old artist, does not quietly slip back into the role of obedient child. Even more universal concerns, such as the freezing New York winters, difficulties at school, and the need to make a living, chip away at the family's unity. Good intentions go awry in a book showcasing "friction among family members" exacerbated by "the separation and adjustment to a new country," but especially by the inevitable maturation of younger family members and the

unwillingness of parents to acknowledge it, wrote Diane S. Morton in School Library Journal. Hazel Rochman, writing in Booklist, praised the "simple, lyrical writing" Danticat demonstrates in the novel. According to Kliatt 's Claire Roser, "Danticat brings her formidable skill as a writer and her own firsthand knowledge of Haiti and immigrating to America to this heartfelt story told in the intimate diary format." In addition to her own works, Danticat has also edited the fiction of others, including 2001's The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States. This work is a collection of stories, poems, and essays from Haitian writers living in America and Europe, many of whom are concerned about the feeling of displacement that is perhaps an inevitable consequence of emigration. Denolyn Carroll suggested in Black Issues Book Review that the pieces in The Butterfly's Way "help paint a vivid picture of what it is like to live in two worlds." Carroll also felt that the work added "new dimensions of understanding of Haitian emigrant's realities. This compilation is a source of enlightenment for us all." Booklist contributor Donna Seaman found the book "a potent and piercing collection" that will help all Americans understand "the frustrations of Haitians who are now outsiders both in Haiti and in their places of refuge." After the Dance: A Walk through Carnival in Haiti is Danticat's 2002 nonfiction account of her first encounter with Carnival, the boisterous, sometimes debauched, sometimes dangerous celebrations that rock Haiti every year. As a child, she did not have the opportunity to attend Carnival. Her family inevitably packed up and left for a remote area in the Haitian mountains each year to escape the celebrations, perpetuating an almost superstitious distrust of the event. At times, though, staying clear has been a good idea. During the regime of Haitian dictator Franois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, carnival-goers were "subject to beatings and arrest by Duvalier's infamously unregulated militamen," wrote Judith Wynn in the Boston Herald. Danticat therefore approaches her first experience of Carnival uneasily. Her trip, however, beginning a week before the actual event, immerses her in the rich culture and history of Haiti, the cultural importance behind Carnival, and the background of the celebration itself. Danticat's "lively narrative" describes a country with a deep history, "influenced by Christianity, voodoo, Europeans, pirates, dictators, past slavery, and an uncertain economy," wrote Linda M. Kaufmann in Library Journal. Donna Seaman, writing in Booklist, observed that "as in her fiction, Danticat writes about her odyssey with an admirable delicacy and meticulousness," while a Publishers Weeklycritic noted that the author "offers an enlightening look at the countryand Carnivalthrough the eyes of one of its finest writers." In 2004, Danticat's book, The Dew Breaker, was published. The nine interrelated short stories move back and forth in time, telling the tale of a sanctioned torturer of dissidents under the regime of Duvalier; he is called the "Dew Breaker" because he arrives before dawn to carry out his task. The unnamed man moves to the United States and raises a family but still feels immense guilt for his deeds. In the book, Danticat brings up the "question of whether forgiveness and redemption are possible in the face of monstrous, unspeakable deeds, according to Christian Century. That year, The Dew Breaker was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle award; plus, Danticat was awarded the Lannan Foundation Fellowship. In 2005, the book was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and won the Story Prize for outstanding collection of short fiction.

Danticat's 2005 novel, Anacaona, Golden Flower, was written for young people. It is the story of Haiti's Queen Anacaona, the wife of one of the island's rulers in the 15th century. When Spaniards began to settle on Haiti, the natives were treated cruelly; when the Haitians revolted, several native nobles were arrested and put to death. According to Booklist, the book "adds a vital perspective to the literature about Columbus and European expansion in the Americas." "In order to create full-fledged, three-dimensional characters, writers often draw on their encounters, observations, collages of images from the everyday world, both theirs and others," Danticat remarked in a biographical essay in Contemporary Novelists. "We are like actors, filtering through our emotions what life must be like, or must have been like, for those we write about. Truly we imagine these lives, aggrandize, reduce, or embellish, however we often begin our journey with an emotion close to our gut, whether it be anger, curiosity, joy, or fear."

Selected writings
The Creation of Adam (play), produced in Providence, RI, 1992. Dreams Like Me (play), produced at Brown University New Plays Festival, 1993. Breath, Eyes, Memory (novel), Soho Press (New York, NY), 1994. Krik? Krak! (short stories), Soho Press (New York, NY), 1995. Children of the Sea (play), produced at Roxbury Community College, 1997. The Farming of Bones (novel), Soho Press (New York, NY), 1998. (With Jonathan Demme) Odillon Pierre, Artist of Haiti, Kaliko Press (Nyack, NY), 1999. (Editor) The Beacon Best of 2000: Great Writing by Women and Men of All Colors and Cultures, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 2000. (Editor) The Butterfly's Way: Voices from the Haitian Dyaspora in the United States, Soho Press (New York, NY), 2001. (Translator and author of afterword, with Carrol F. Coates) Jackes Stephen Alexis, In the Flicker of an Eyelid, University of Virginia Press (Charlottesville, VA), 2002. After the Dance: A Walk through Carnival in Haiti, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 2002. Behind the Mountains (novel), Orchard Books (New York, NY), 2002.

The Dew Breaker (short stories), Knopf (New York, NY), 2004. Anacaona, Golden Flower, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2005.

Sources
Books
Authors and Artists for Young Adults, vol. 29, Gale, 1999. Contemporary Literary Criticism, vol. 94, Gale, 1996. Contemporary Novelists, 7th ed., St. James Press, 2001. St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, Gale, 1999. Short Stories for Students, vol. 1, Gale, 1997.

Periodicals
America, November 6, 1999, p. 10. Americas, January 2000, p. 62; May 2000, p. 40. Antioch Review, winter 1999, p. 106. Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 29, 2000, p. D3. Belles Lettres, fall 1994, p. 36, p. 38; summer 1995, pp. 12-15. Black Issues Book Review, January 1999, p. 20; May 2001, p. 60; July/August 2004, p. 43. Bloomsbury Review, September-October 1994, p. 12. Booklist, January 1, 1999, p. 778; March 15, 1999, p. 1295; June 1, 1999, p. 1796; February 15, 2000, p. 1096; October 15, 2000, p. 416; February 15, 2001, p. 1096; January 1, 2002, p. 763; August 2002, pp. 1895-96; October 1, 2002, p. 312; July 2005. Boston Herald, November 17, 2000, p. 43; September 1, 2002, p. 61. Callaloo, spring 1996, pp. 382-89. Christian Century, September 22, 1999, p. 885; December 14, 2004, p. 22.

Emerge, April 1995, p. 58. Entertainment Weekly, September 3, 1999, p. 63; March 19, 2004, p. 69. Essence, November 1993, p. 48; April 1995, p. 56; May 1996. Globe and Mail, June 12, 1999, p. D4. Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2002, p. 782; September 15, 2002, p. 1387. Kliatt, November 1999, p. 16; November 2002, p. 8. Library Journal, November 1, 2000, p. 80, p. 103; June 15, 2002, p. 83. Ms., March/April 1994, pp. 77-78; March/April, 1995, p. 75. Nation, November 16, 1998, p. 62. Newsday, March 30, 1995, p. B2, p. B25; May 21, 1995, p. A52. New York, November 20, 1995, p. 50. New York Times, January 26, 1995, p. C1, p. C8; October 23, 1995, p. B3. New York Times Book Review, July 10, 1994, p. 24; April 23, 1995, p. 22; September 27, 1998, p. 18; December 5, 1999, p. 104; December 10, 1999, p. 36. New York Times Magazine, June 21, 1998. O, February 2002, pp. 141-45. Off Our Backs, March 1999, p. 13. Organic Style, April 2004, p. 22. People, September 28, 1998, p. 51; March 29, 2004, p. 53. Poets and Writers, January 1997. Progressive, January 1997, p. 39; December 1998, p. 44. Publishers Weekly, January 24, 1994, pp. 39-40; May 25, 1998; August 17, 1998, p. 42; November 2, 1998, p. 40; September 11, 2000, p. 69; December 18, 2000, p. 65; May 13, 2002, pp. 58-59; October 28, 2002, p. 72.

Quarterly Black Review, June 1995, p. 6. Reference & User Services Quarterly, spring 1999, p. 253. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 21, 1999, p. D3. School Library Journal, May 1995, p. 135; October 2002, p. 160. Time, September 7, 1998, p. 78. Times (London, England), March 20, 1999, p. 19. Times Literary Supplement, April 28, 2000, p. 23. Village Voice Literary Supplement, July 1995, p. 11. Voice of Youth Advocates, December 1995, p. 299. Washington Post Book World, April 3, 1994, p. 6; May 14, 1995, p. 4. World & I, February 1999, p. 290. World Literature Today, spring 1999, p. 373.

Online
"Edwidge Danticat," Voices from the Gaps, http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/danticat_edwidge.html (July 5, 2005).

Read more: Edwidge Danticat Biography - life, family, children, parents, story, death, history, wife, school, mother - Newsmakers Cumulation http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2005-A-Fi/DanticatEdwidge.html#ixzz1TD6JRgc3