Writing About Literature
22 October 2012
Reflections of a Reader: Edwidge Danticat's Short Story
Nineteen Thirty-Seven, from "Krik? Krak!"
Upon reading the short story Nineteen Thirty-Seven in Edwidge Danticat's "Krik? Krak!", I feel the author has engaged me on yet another new world I'd never seen. The story is almost too quick and not long enough when you start realizing the depth of the events in the story and their cultural and political significance. The character's self-less style of narration combined with her pace at which she reveals important details, comprise an insightful story filled a mystic aura of Haitian culture and belief.
Nineteen Thirty-Seven plunges the reader right into a narrative of conflict, engaging one to put the pieces together quickly. The first thing that I found interesting was the author's pacing at which her narration only reveals certain things, leaving the reader to inquire and read on. But there is something more in the style of this specific story. perhaps it is that the narrator remains nameless, that we don't know her age, that we are not provided any factual, historical background. In fact, there is even an omission of the country that borders Haiti, emphasizing a nameless horror in the narrator's past. But soon enough, the narrator brings light to what at first only appear as quick subtle details, which are of utmost importance and the reader must recognize as such. For instance, the tear of the Madonna statue, or "wings of flame" twice mentioned before fully being described as entirely non-metaphorical. It is easy, I must admit, for the reader to dismiss such detail as sheer metaphor, until you realize these are all real and serious elements to the narrator. But as a good writer Danticat proves to be, it is only at the very end that all things come full circle and are entirely revealed.
The story of Nineteen Thirty-Seven is a very significant piece of literature in becoming aware politically and culturally. With every page I read, I realized more the importance of this author whom I knew nothing about prior to reading. With a clear conflict present, of massacre, of imprisonment, of accusation and inhumane punishment, it is clear that Danticat has risen to a task that some of the bravest writers often make; to recount the events of injustice they lived as survivors, and bring back to the world an awareness of the things they saw. Anyone who survives unjust oppression, inhumane crimes or any infringement of freedom by authorities, has the unspoken responsibility to tell the experience to an often unaware world. And though the story may very likely be a work of fiction, we must remember that even in fiction there is much truth to be found. The prison of Port-au-Prince in Haiti, the 1915 occupation and American involvement, massacres and Dominican involvement, Generalissimo Dios Trujillo's orders as chief of state...what horrors did these people live? Well , the story provides a humane and intimate experience from the Haitian perspective
Danticat, through a nameless narrator, shares her experience of visiting her mother in prison, and the reluctance she initially feels upon seeing her suffering. She describes her mother vividly as decaying and withering, describing "her face [as] the gray of a late evening sky" and "her eyes [that] had the look of delirium" (36, 43). The other women in the prison depict a loss of humanity and identity, brought by the gloom of prison. She perceives them as solemn, with "chins nearly touching their chests, their shaved heads sunk low on bowed necks" (38). She sees the women as defaced by prison, made to look "like crows, like men" (39). Her inability to speak to her mother emphasizes her pain and shock, the trauma of the experience, to see her mother in that situation. Furthermore, this conflict in communication creates a psychological border between mother and daughter, which could be defined as through their difference of mindset toward the situation at hand; a regret/acceptance border. All these elements contribute to the overall experience the narrator lives through her mother, the facing of oppression and suffering, the seizing of a human being's freedom from an accusation.
The narrator explains how all the women there are imprisoned for the same reason, they were accused with the death of a child, and were seen rising at night on wings of fire, implying a sort of questionable withcraft. But then enters the lore of Hatian culture in the story.
The narrator remembers her visits to the Massacre River as a child and her mother's words about its importance. The day the narrator was born, her mother fled a massacre into a blood-filled river, swimming to the other side where many did not live to see. More importantly, as she flees, her mother is taken from her, on the same night she gives birth to the narrator. It is upon this experience, that the wings of fire and the narrator's mother's ability to take flight in the night, begins. It is why both mother and daughter would visit river yearly, and give thanks to it for their survival, among many other women who collectively refered to themselves as Daughters of the River, sparking their identity. Through the narrator's memories of her mother's words, as well as another survivor Jacqueline who proves upon questioning that she too is a "child of the river", the reader gains a consciousness of this shared connection, a cultural identity of the Hatians as sparked by this experience of surviving the massacre. Yet, the narrator questions the mother's ability to fly, and only upon the end, at the day of her mother's burning in prison, she recalls and reveals the entire experience made whole, sharing a powerful image. The sight of her mother emerging from the river, "she glowed red...blood clinging to her skin..looked as though it were in flames" creates a powerful scene of transcendence, an image of overcoming.(49) It is only then, at the end of the story, that the image of fire (wings of flame) and the image of blood (the Massacre River) converge to paint a climactic and clear picture of understanding for the narrator. And only at the memory of such an image, the narrator is able to look at the sun in hope, wondering is she may one day meet her mother there. Fire, blood and flight, altogether resound a very strong desire for freedom and uprising thought of the Haitian people oppressed.
There is so much depth to the literary contribution Danticat has made in Nineteen Thirty-Seven, that it is easy to be engaged as a reader. The story gives voice to a struggling people often overlooked in history, and their fiery hope upon facing revolution and suffering. It is an experience of overcoming social and political challenges of the most violent kind, and a symbolic transcendence over the borders created by authorities. To bring to light the experience of the Hatian people in 1937, Danticat fulfills her duty as a writer to make aware a world that often forgets the overcoming of conflict.
[End of blog]
Final Reflection:
Before reading 1937, my only knowledge of the Hatians went as far as performing Charles Mingus' Hatian Fight Song for Big Band. Its wild sounds do bring to mind revolution, but only upon reading Edwidge Danticat's work, I do indeed feel a newfound understanding of a world overlooked. The Dominican and Haitian conflict is something that, greatly shadowed by the Holocaust in the following years, rarely is spoken of. Altogether, I feel it forms a piece to the greater picture of understanding our world, historically, culturally and even geographically, as it shifts attention to the Caribbean.
People suffering from oppression, and reading about their hope in dire, bleak situations... my mind could not help but to echo the sounds of the lyrics of another song of revolution. Now I can't help but to share it. If the music is too much to listen to, the chorus is what's important (though without the image of the video, the connection may not be clear). Swedish metal band Arch Enemy brought awareness to the pains of political oppression overseas, and a melancholic sense of hope in the image of the people, singing "We are standing in the flames, Reaching for the sky, fighting to the end..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRkc08_dR-0
Our peaceful city is a gift, never to be taken for granted. Others live in daily turmoil, pray to God they reach peace. Haitian, Swedish, whatever face the conflict may have, pray to God they reach peace. Every day of peace in El Paso is a gift.
The narrator explains how all the women there are imprisoned for the same reason, they were accused with the death of a child, and were seen rising at night on wings of fire, implying a sort of questionable withcraft. But then enters the lore of Hatian culture in the story.
The narrator remembers her visits to the Massacre River as a child and her mother's words about its importance. The day the narrator was born, her mother fled a massacre into a blood-filled river, swimming to the other side where many did not live to see. More importantly, as she flees, her mother is taken from her, on the same night she gives birth to the narrator. It is upon this experience, that the wings of fire and the narrator's mother's ability to take flight in the night, begins. It is why both mother and daughter would visit river yearly, and give thanks to it for their survival, among many other women who collectively refered to themselves as Daughters of the River, sparking their identity. Through the narrator's memories of her mother's words, as well as another survivor Jacqueline who proves upon questioning that she too is a "child of the river", the reader gains a consciousness of this shared connection, a cultural identity of the Hatians as sparked by this experience of surviving the massacre. Yet, the narrator questions the mother's ability to fly, and only upon the end, at the day of her mother's burning in prison, she recalls and reveals the entire experience made whole, sharing a powerful image. The sight of her mother emerging from the river, "she glowed red...blood clinging to her skin..looked as though it were in flames" creates a powerful scene of transcendence, an image of overcoming.(49) It is only then, at the end of the story, that the image of fire (wings of flame) and the image of blood (the Massacre River) converge to paint a climactic and clear picture of understanding for the narrator. And only at the memory of such an image, the narrator is able to look at the sun in hope, wondering is she may one day meet her mother there. Fire, blood and flight, altogether resound a very strong desire for freedom and uprising thought of the Haitian people oppressed.
There is so much depth to the literary contribution Danticat has made in Nineteen Thirty-Seven, that it is easy to be engaged as a reader. The story gives voice to a struggling people often overlooked in history, and their fiery hope upon facing revolution and suffering. It is an experience of overcoming social and political challenges of the most violent kind, and a symbolic transcendence over the borders created by authorities. To bring to light the experience of the Hatian people in 1937, Danticat fulfills her duty as a writer to make aware a world that often forgets the overcoming of conflict.
[End of blog]
Final Reflection:
Before reading 1937, my only knowledge of the Hatians went as far as performing Charles Mingus' Hatian Fight Song for Big Band. Its wild sounds do bring to mind revolution, but only upon reading Edwidge Danticat's work, I do indeed feel a newfound understanding of a world overlooked. The Dominican and Haitian conflict is something that, greatly shadowed by the Holocaust in the following years, rarely is spoken of. Altogether, I feel it forms a piece to the greater picture of understanding our world, historically, culturally and even geographically, as it shifts attention to the Caribbean.
People suffering from oppression, and reading about their hope in dire, bleak situations... my mind could not help but to echo the sounds of the lyrics of another song of revolution. Now I can't help but to share it. If the music is too much to listen to, the chorus is what's important (though without the image of the video, the connection may not be clear). Swedish metal band Arch Enemy brought awareness to the pains of political oppression overseas, and a melancholic sense of hope in the image of the people, singing "We are standing in the flames, Reaching for the sky, fighting to the end..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRkc08_dR-0
Our peaceful city is a gift, never to be taken for granted. Others live in daily turmoil, pray to God they reach peace. Haitian, Swedish, whatever face the conflict may have, pray to God they reach peace. Every day of peace in El Paso is a gift.
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