Top 5 choices

      1. #8 Marinda
          Most of the adaptations are based on the original text, but Marinda's is the only one that completely changes the setting, plot and characters, which seems to be very interesting for me. 

      2. #2 Mine
          I am most familiar with my own proposal. I know what kind of messages I want to convey through this play to the audience. 

      3. #6 Dilyara 
          It is a very interesting idea to let the son of the night women to have a conversation with the men who is counting money on bed. 

      4. #7 Yichen
           I am very familiar with both the stories of New York Day Women and Night Women. 

      5. #11 B Gianna 
           I have never think about the two characters from the Children of the Sea would eventually come together. 
      

Endgame Review

      Endgame, written by Samuel Beckett, is a theatre of absurd, which explores the meaninglessness of life. The sense of death was created and strongly heightened throughout the play after the author witnessed the death of his mother from disease and of his brother from lung cancer, along with his experiences from WWII. The depressing atmosphere which was created by the fear of death was deeply rooted in my mind.
      As I stepped into the theatre, the cell-like stage setting gave me a feeling of depression. The wall was dark grey with two closed windows. A pile of battered books were cluttered in the corner with two old boxes in front of it. Dust and wastes was everywhere. All the things in the room seemed like had experienced a catastrophe, torn and broken, which somehow set up the fundament for the plot.
       In the play, there were "two pairs" of characters ---- Hamm and Clov, Nagg and Nell. Hamm seemed to be the one who was in charge even though he was blind and cannot stand. He sat on a grand but old chair which was located right in the middle of the room. Clov was his servant. He can see but cannot stand. The dependent relationship was very dominant between them. Another pair of characters were Hamm's parents ---- Nagg and Nell. They lived in the two ashcans next to each other. They symbolized a different kind of relationship ---- rather than master and servant, they were wife and husband. But surprisingly, the sense of dependence was broke by the death of Nell in the middle of the play, which deepened the others' fear toward death. That was also the moment made me feel impressed the most. Nagg knocked hardly at the ashcan but no one would respond to him anymore. And then, he slowly returned to his small room, and silently closed the lid. The wary sound of crying resounded everywhere in the theatre.
      Except the despairing atmosphere built up by the stage setting and death of Nell, the existence of death was very dominant throughout the play. There were two windows in the room. At the beginning of the play, Hamm asked Clov to see if there was anything outside the window. But every time when Clov looked outside the window, there was nothing either on the sea or on the earth. Thus, there was no ship, no fish, no people on the sea, and no car, no tree, no building on the earth. There was not any sign of life, but only the rest four people in the room. The author somehow conveys a kind of idea that living is dying. The only thing people can do after they born is to waiting for death. This is absolutely very pessimistic. I cannot agree with him, but I am still touched by his play.

Proposal for transformation scenes

Adaptation from New York Day Women

      - Characters: 

            - 2 in two different ages

            - mother (around 40), daughter (when she is still a student)

            - mother (around 60), daughter (around 30)

       - Setting: 

            - the story begins with the scene that the grown-up daughter is braiding her mother's hair ~> they start to talk about the past things ... ~> the daughter started recalling those touching moments she happened to see ... 

                 - Scene I: 

                    It was the first parent-teacher conference in her middle school. Everyone else was sitting with their parents, talking about those interesting things happened at school. But the daughter was sitting alone in the corner. She buried her head in her arms; tried to avoid any eye contract with the others. But the teacher still noticed her, called out her name, asked her, where was her parent in front of the whole class. She can't help but rushed out of the classroom with tears rolling in her eyes. But suddenly, she saw a familiar figure hastily turned to leave. She followed that familiar figure silently. As soon as she rounded the corner, she saw that figure crouching in the street with her trembling shoulders. It was the first time she saw her mother crying. 

                 - Scene II: 

                    It was a Saturday morning. They were having a breakfast at home. The daughter went to check the mailbox outside, and found that there was a letter from Haiti. She brought the letter in, and gave it to her mother. Her mother read it, looking very depressed. She hesitated if she should say something to comfort her. However, her mother finished eating breakfast quickly, threw the letter into the trash can, and went to work. The daughter picked up the letter. It was from one of her aunts. In the letter, she said that she hope her mother can return this year and attend her brothers' funerals. The daughter never knew anything from her mother's past in Haiti: she did not know neither how many uncles or aunts she actually had nor what her grandparents look like. She started to live with her mother as long as she could remember. There wasn't any memories about her relatives left in her mind. It was the first time she felt curious about the past which was hidden by her mother. 

       - PS: 

            - There isn't that much dialogues between the performance. Instead, the two characters would say their thoughts in a kind of narrator form. 

            - I want to use the symbol of "braiding hair" which suggests the combination of different strands into a whole to present the theme of how the two people who were separated by the two generations and culture difference eventually come closed together. 

            - In the original story, there is not that much face-to-face interaction between the two characters because it was narrated from the daughter's perspective. Thus, through the performance I want to show more about these details as well as the inner thoughts from the two sides. 

Endgame Research

Endgame 

                                                                                           

        

               - written by Samuel Beckett in 1957

                   - translated in English in 1958 (several differences: title, scene where Clov spots the   young boy)

               - critiqued as a play where nothing happens once

                   - as opposed to Waiting for Godot, a play where nothing happens twice

                       - sense of despair: characters are not waiting for anything other than death

               - Author

                   - Beckett was born in Foxrock, Ireland, in 1906; moved to Paris after graduated from college

                      - during WWII, joined the French Resistance and fled from the Nazis; hid in a village in Southern France with his girlfriend for over two years 

                         - gained his own renown with his theatrical masterpiece --- Attendant en Godot --- was staged in Paris in 1953

               - Character List

                   - Hamm: a blind man who is no longer able to walk; in charge of the shelter where all four characters are trapped; seems to be Clov's master or father; links with Clov as a "pair", if one of them leaves, the other will die

                       - Clov: serves as Hamm's menial, son, or beast; paired with Hamm because he can see and stand, whereas Hamm is blind and must sit

                           - Nagg: Hamm's father, lives in an ashcan; paired with his wife Nell

                               - Nell: Hamm's mother, lives in ashcan which is situated next to Nagg's can, but very far apart

                - Theme

                    - Emptiness and Loneliness 

                        - constant tension in the play: whether Clov will leave Hamm or not; he threatens to and does sometimes, but he is never able to make a clean break; Hamm continually tells Clov to leave him alone but pulls him back before an exist is possible

                            - both wonder why they stay with each other, but both give reasons for why they put  up wit each other; they are the consolation for each other's empty lives which filled with unyielding pain

                                - Beckett has compared Hamm and Clov's tense co-dependency to his own relationship with his wife: both wanted to leave the other, but were afraid to

                - Theatre of the Absurd     

                    - minimal use of language, minimalist use of setting, self-consciousness of characters, nothing happens ~> absurdism 

                       - views life as meaningless and beyond human rationality to understand, which is a sentiment to which Endgame subscribes, with its conception of circularity and non-meaning

                          - combines tragedy and comedy in new ways: Winnie says, "Nothing is funnier than unhappiness"            

Quiz #3 Reflection on Performance

      Today, we made our final performance on the stage. Ms. Danticat acted by me and Ms. Melissa (the mother from New York Day Women) acted by Marinda had a deep conversation in my imaginary world. In our interview, we tried to show the audience those specific things that were not metioned in the book, which happened on the author as well as the New York Day Woman. Because in the "New York Day Women", the story was recounted from her daughter's perspective, and the inner feelings of Melissa was not showed that much. Same in the "Epilogue", the author also did not give us that much information of what she has experienced in her life except why she wanted by a writer. Thus, through the interview, we want to let the audience or the readers have a more complete understanding about Melissa and the author's life.

      And the biggest theme portrayed by the interview is to show the connections between the two Haitian women, which also is between the author and a character created by her. Even though, one lives in the reality, and one is an imaginary figure, we can see how does the author substitutes her own expeiences and pours her own feelings into this character. First of all, they have very similar experience: they both have some memories back in Haiti, and have ever suffered from the brutal Duvailler regime before they immigrate to New York. When they first come to New York, they also have been stuggling from the difficulty of adapting a new culture and environment. But their strong faith also support them from being overcame by those difficulties: for Melissa, her faith is her daughter; and for the author, her faith is the dream of being a writer. That's what we want to express through our adaptation of the story. The hair braided by the author also connects herself with those nine hundreds and ninety-nine women. 

Krik? Krak! Quiz #3 Script from Marinda and Sarah's Group

Characters:

Sarah Li ~> Edwidge Danticat    

Marinda Hsu ~> Melissa (the mother from “New York Day Women”)

Setting:

In Ms.Danticat’s imaginary world, she interviews her made up character Melissa while writing her story Krik Krak.

Blockings:

Two chairs and a table in the middle of the stage.

Pen or something to show Ms.Danticat is writing.

Danticat focusing on her writing, stops for a while acting as if she needs inspiration and idea to add into her writing. ---->

Melissa enters the stage slowly (if possible, smog effect could appear as Melissa walks in to create this dreamy feeling, or dim the lights on the stage) ---->

Danticat stands up---->dialogue starts---->

Sarah (Danticat): Hi Melissa! I am writing a story about you.

Marinda (Melissa) : hello...your name is….?

S: Oh, my name is Danticat, nice to meet you here in my mind.

M: it is nice to meet you, too.

S: Please take a seat Melissa.

M: So, We're both from Haiti, aren't we?

S: Yeah! When did you come to New York?

M: A few years ago when my daughter was still a young young girl.

S: Why did you choose to come to New York?

M: I choose to come here because of my daughter, I wanted to protect her.

S: Protect her?

M: Emmm …. My husband, the father of my daughter of course, was against the dictatorship back in Haiti, and you know what would happen don’t you, if someone goes against the government.

S: I do understand the terrible situation back in our homeland.

M: Yes, as you know, my husband got hanged in public. People in our small town refused to talk and interact with us. My daughter was still in kindergarden and she told me that her friends are drifting apart from her. I did not want this to continue when she grows older and understand the reason of it. This is the reason why i choose to bring my lovely girl to a new place.

S: Oh … you are such a great mother. Your daughter and you must be close.

M: Haa (smiles awkwardly) … Not really. There have been some estrangements between me and my daughter as she grew older and whenever I show my concerns based on what is happening back in Haiti. She told me there is no reason to think or worry about things that is far away from us from the day we leave. But for me, what has happened to my husband and what might be happening to the people back in my homeland, I could not stop feeling guilty for a much more safe and comfortable life we’re living in.

S: I actually can feel the same distress for what our countrymen still have been suffering from the brutal regime in Haiti. But, have you ever think about having a conversation with your daughter?

M: I tried, but every time as soon as I start talking about anything that is related to Haiti, she sighs. And I do not want to force her, she’s already an adult.

S: I am sorry to hear that … but I believe that she loves you very much. It’s just because that she never gets a chance to know what happened back there where she was born. As long as she can remember, she started to live in New York. Maybe you can take her back in the future.

M: I could understand what my daughter feels about my unnecessary concerns. There will always be a disconnection and a barrier between someone that have been in a suppressing society and someone that is living in this country known for liberty. However,

How about you? Why are you writing a story of me? What’s your story?

S: Emm..  I was born in Port-au-Prince, where also suffered from the oppressive Duvalier regimes. My parents fled to New York but left me behind with my brother when I was twelve. Then, after a few years, I eventually can come here with my brother, and reunite with my parents. And surprisingly, I have got another two new brothers. Those days were really difficult when I first came here. I was excluded from my classmates at school because of my strange accent, my black skin, my odd appearance … Every day I woke up in the morning, I used every means possible to not go to school. I refused to accept this kind of new environment, new culture, and new friends … But the one thing that supports me to keep going is my dream of being a writer. It was a dream that was strongly against by my parents but I still persisted. (Here, the moment when Danticat bow down, Melissa leaves the stage. The stage light turns to be brighter to show that it comes back to reality from Danticat’s imaginary world.)  And now, I am so happy that I have achieved my dream --- I become a storyteller.

blog #8

      There is a storytelling tradition that has passed down from generation to generation in Haiti ---- the storyteller begins by asking, "Krik?" and those listeners answer "Krak!". Influenced by such beautiful traditional storytelling ritual, Edwidge Danticat writes down this novel which was made up by ten different stories, and within each story, there is someone telling a story. 

      In the first story, "Children of the sea", there are two storytellers. The female letter writer tells a story about the miserable life under the Duvalier regime to the male letter writer. Even though the letters will never be delivered, and it's more like her own diary, she also expresses her missing to her lover. From the male letter writer perspective, instead of telling a story about his experiences on the boat only to her lover, when he realizes that he could die anytime as the boat keeps sinking, he is telling a story to those people outside Haiti, letting more and more people to know what Haitians have been suffering and save them from the Duvalier regime. Thus, storytelling not only can send a message of love and missing but fear, pain and despair. 

      In the "Night Women", the storyteller is the night woman. As a mother, she tells interesting bedtime stories to her son: stories about mountain, stories of the ghost women and the stars in their hair ... As a narrator, she describes her life of being a prostitute, and how she tries to hide the truth of her job from her son for protecting his innocence. At this time, I guess the listeners of her story might be those "piece-worker women". She wants to tell them that she is never ashamed of her job, instead she feels lucky about all her free time during the day, and proud of her actions for her son. The story portrayed by the night woman is the great love from a mother. 

      And the genuine storyteller, the author, Edwidge Danticat, eventually appears at the last section of the book, telling her story as a writer. Like those women who are struggling with the hardships of life, she also has been struggling with being a writer, which is a dangerous and useless job in her parents' eyes. However, those characters created by her are exactly the reason that encourage her to keep chasing her writer dream. And eventually, she not only becomes a real storyteller, writing down the various stories to her number readers, but also inspires many of those who have experienced the same sufferings with her to overcome the struggles. 

      In Haiti, storytelling is a kind of tradition used to preserve the country's cultures and customs. But Edwidge Danticat turns it into the most powerful weapon, revealing the tribulation people have been suffering in silence.  

In-class writing

Immigration is a big theme that was mentioned in Ewidge Danticat's speech. As someone asked her that why would she choose to return to Haiti after she came here, she responded that the immigration today is pretty different with the immigration before. The immigration before is like you get on a boat, drifting to somewhere safe and start a new life there but never come back, but the immigration today is more like a round trip, you come here to seek an opportunity to make a living, and you will return to your homeland. And for her, I think what she does is not only going back to visit her relatives, but help more Haitians seek a better life by using her words. She spreads out the harsh situation that the Haitians have been suffering to the world, letting more people get to know, and raises money to help her country through difficult times, which impress me a lot. I remember that Ms. Leeming asked a question that how can do it cause we are just a small community. However, what Edwidge Danticat does by herself mean a lot to many people not only just Haitians. It is right that we are just many individuals, and maybe we cannot reach such achievement as what she does, but when we are together, we are a community; when different communities are together, it also means a lot. Thus, the "little thing" we are doing also has significance to the world.

Blog #7

    Like braiding her hair, Edwidge Danticat brings all those "women" to life and closely intertwine in her story. From Célianne, Josephine's mother, Lili, the night woman to the day women, and Caroline, the fate of these Haitian women are stitched together no matter where they live. 

    Those women who did not get a chance to immigrate to other countries to start a new life had been suffering relentless tortures or hardships, which brought by either the cruel control of the government or the inequality of gender existed in the society. Under the brutal control of Duvalier Regime, many girls like Célianne who were raped by those inhumane soldiers were the biggest victims. Overwhelmed by such abuse, they either ended up traumatized or commit suicide. Although Célianne still had a gleam of hope when she carried her unborn child on the boat, drifting to the new future, she eventually committed suicide when everyone else on the boat convinces her to abandon her child. Like her, Josephine's mother's life was also destroyed by the hands of those "governors". She was accused of killing a child by practicing the power of voodoo, and sent to prison by those blind people who were afraid of her "magic power". In the prison, Josephine's mother suffered from endless mistreatment before death. Compared with them, Lili's life was slight better after the government of Haiti gradually stabilized. She had a husband named Guy, and a son named Little Guy. Even though her family was very poor because her husband did not have a job, she was very hopeful toward the future that her son can choose his own destiny by the power of education but her husband jumped from a hot-air balloon in front of her and her son. She became a widow. In that men-dominated society, her life became even more tough to raise her son. She can either choose to become a piece-worker or a prostitute like the "night woman". Thus, life was very hard for those women lived in Haiti: during the country's unrest, they were struggling to live; when Haiti eventually became somehow stable, they were struggling to make a living in the men-dominated society. 

    And fortunately for those women who came to the U.S., they no longer needed to worry about how to stay alive but instead they struggled to adapt to the new environment. In the story "New York Day Women", following with the narrator's eyes, we can see that her mother had somehow successfully adapted to New York: she had a relatively good job; she can easily interact with the vendors on her way to work. For offering a good life to her daughter, she came to America, spent years on striving to fit into the new culture, and never returned for her sisters' funerals. Different from her, Caroline's mother refused to adapt to the new environment. She was more like a traditional Haitian woman who respected for all the Haitian cultures. She was pretty against Caroline's marriage because her husband --- Eric was not Haitian, as what she said, "no one in our family has ever married outside". Although she finally made compromise to their marriage, she still tried to make Eric become a "Haitian". She wanted Eric to officially come and ask her permission to marry her daughter and bring his family to their house and have his father ask her blessing ... Except her way of insisting on following the Haitian cultures, she also kept all the items when she first came to U.S. to reunite with her husband. Although she continuously made comprise to her daughters, she still strived to keep all the things about Haiti by using her own way. Thus, these Haitian women who lived in the U.S. were using their own ways to cherish their soul in Haiti: some of them chose to fit in the new environment and hided those memories inside their heart; some chose to keep all the cultures as much as possible and inherit to their children. 

    All these Haitian women were the victims of the country's unrest: they suffered from brutal persecution; their family were destroyed; they were forced to leave their homeland and seek another life in an unknown country. They were connected but forced apart. 

Between the Pool and the Gardenias

- The narrator sees a beautiful baby girl who was abandoned in the street. The child was wearing a little blue dress with the letters R-O-S-E on the collar, like Baby Moses in the Bible.
- In the city, people throw out their children anywhere because they can' afford to feed them, which was entirely against in Ville Rose.
- She dreams about her mother and those women who had all died before she was born: her great grandmother Eveline who was killed by Dominican soldiers at the Massacre River ("1937"), her grand-mother Défilé who died in the prison ("1937"), and her godmother Lili ("Wall of Fire Rising"), claim her to do some good for the child.
- She brings the child back to her maid's room with carrying her when she does works.
- Monsieur and Madame talks about her: guessing she is one of those "manbos", stupid people who think that they have a spell to make themselves invisible and hurt other people behind her.
- She tells the child her story with her husband and the Dominican despite the child does not react to her.
- Because of the baby's smell, she baths her more and more often using the pool. She tends to return Rose back to where she found, but she feels the responsibility for the baby.
- She outs the baby in a shack behind her house, watching her decompose. When the baby begins to attract flies, she decides to bury her and gives her a last bath. She buries he in the garden behind the house.
- As she lowers the baby in to the hole, the Dominican comes. He does not give her a chance to explain but accuses her of kill and eat the child and holds her in order to prevent her from running away.
- She gives up to explain anymore but just stands there with the man and the child.

In-class writing

In "Night women", the whole story is pretty vague or dreamlike. There is not a specific word I can use to describe the tone it because the narrator does not demonstrate that much feelings of the woman in her words, and her narrative way is not in order. Sometimes, there is not any connection between the two adjacent paragraphs. However, from this kind of dreamlike tone, I still can read the woman's great love to her son. She would watch her son when he falls asleep. All those descriptions of her son's emotions, actions or little gestures are the best evidence. She tries to prevent her son from knowing her secret of fair with those men for protecting his innocence. All she wants to do is to give her son a good life as far as possible. Her love to her son is just like the tone of the story ---- dreamlike but solid.

New York Day Women

As she follows her mom --- New York Day Woman, what her mother does reminds the narrator many memorable quotes that her mom once told her:

- "would you get up ... I bet you don't even give up your seat to a pregnant lady"
    Sometimes, the narrator would give her seat but it all depends.

- "in Haiti when you get hit by a car ... kicks you for getting blood on his bumper"
    The narrator sees her mom patiently waiting  for crossing the street.

- "you can take them out when they bother you .... "
   The narrator's mother feels okay to have dentures.

- "he doesn't kiss me that way ... "
   The narrator asks her mother if she will feel empty when Papa kisses her.

- "a third of that money is all I would need .... "
   The narrator sees her mother watching the lottery drawing every night.

- "if they want to eat with me, let them come to my house ... "
   As she follows her mother, she remembers that her mother doesn't go out to dinner with anyone.

- "fat, you know, and cholesterol ... killed your aunt Hermine"
   Her mother talks to herself when peels the skin off poultry.

- "why should we give to Goodwill ... we save our clothes for the relatives in Haiti"
   Her mother stops by a vendor selling sundresses, considering to buy the African print dress that she would just bury or give to Goodwill, which reminds her what her mother once told her.

- "I cannot just swallow salt .. heavier than a hundred bags of shame"
   Her mother stops at a hot-dog vendor, and buys a frankfurter which is the thing with sodium that she shouldn't eat with her blood pressure.

- "many graves to kiss ... "
   Her mother sits with a child in the park with waiting for the child's mother to finish working out, and gives the child the soda that he bought from the vendor. They watches the other children playing. When her mother reads the child's comic book, she remembers how her mother taught herself to read the books that her brothers brought home. Her mother has lost six of her seven sister in Ville Rose.

- "day woman comes out when nobody expects them"
   She hurries back to work. On the bus, she sees her mother chatting with a group of women like a Parent-Teacher Association meeting in the park.

- "I sill have all these little Suzettes in case you never have any babies ... "
   Her mother sews many Raggedy Ann doll that she names Suzette.

- "that's a blessing ... even if American doctors say ... you can make retarded babies"
   Her mother had her when she was at the age that Christ died on the cross.

- "why, you can't you look like a day playing football"
   Her mother sews lace collars on her company softball T-shirts.

- "you're so good anyway ... I don't want to make you ashamed of this day woman ... "
  Her mother never went to any of her Parent-Teacher Association meetings.

Night Women

- A woman sits in the night, and watches her son. Her son's growing reminds her of her son's father. Her son wraps the blood-red scarf that she wears to temp her suitors. 
- The woman is stuck between the day and night. During the night, she puts a curtain to separate her son from her secret of fair with the man she brings into house. 
- She likes to whisper different stories in her son's ears; wants him to forget that "we live in a place where nothing lasts".
- She keeps watching her son while he falls asleep: his emotion, his actions, his little gestures... , and hearing him humming a song. 
- The man who comes tonight (Tuesdays and Saturdays) is Emmanuel, a doctor. On Mondays and Thursdays, it is an accordion player named Alexandre. 
- After the man leaves, the woman sits outside and smokes a dry tobacco leaf. Later, she returns to see her son. Her son asks her, have him missed the angels, and she tells him that the angels have a lifetime to come to them. 

blog #6

      The more extreme the environment is, the more hideousness of humanity would be exposed. Gender is one of those ugliness Edwidge Danticat reveals to us through the stories; it represents those female, who were raped by the soldiers and eventually end up disabled or traumatized, who were beaten to death under the numerous paris of indifferent eyes, whose wings of faith were broken and whose social status were determined before birth. In contrast with those themes of hope and love, gender again becomes a debatable topic but shady in the Krik Krak. 

      In “Children of the Sea”, gender is sexual abuse and violence. The brutal control of Duvalier Regime brings a disaster to the Haitians, and female is the most victims. Those inhumane soldiers force them to have sexual intercourse with other members in their families, and some girls would eventually have a child by her father that way. And if there is a woman remaining, she will be raped by the soldiers like the pregnant girl Célianne that the protagonist met on the boat. Overwhelmed by such abuse, women either end up traumatized or commit suicide. Like Célianne, even though her heart was still filled with love and hope to the birth of her child. When everyone convinces her to abandon her child with facing the harsh conditions on the boat, she finally leaps into the sea, chasing the last gleam of hope ever lightened in her life. 

      In “Nineteen Thirty-Seven”, gender is blindness and mistreatment. Josephine’s mother was accused of killing the child through practicing the power of voodoo. It is hard to judge what kind of religion voodoo is but obviously, the sick baby, who has been suffering with colic, died of disease. Absurdly, all needs to have the women same as Josephine’s mother been arrested is just a few people’s words. In the contemporary state of society in Haiti, male is absolute dominated. It is easy to tell how terrified they are to any rising powers of female, and even believe the so-called “magic power”. In order to choke off any opportunities that women can have power, the women who were arrested also suffer from mistreatment before death. 

      In “A Wall of Fire Rising”, gender is distinct social roles and status. Guy is the pessimistic protagonist who has been struggling for getting a stable job for taking care of his family in this story. Taking the mightiness of unwilling and pressure, he eventually chooses to suicide in the most heroic way — jump from the hot-air balloon. It is the depressing expectations to the roles of male in the society led him toward death. In that male-dominated society, male has the role of working and taking care of their families. However, Guy has no work, and the job he finally gets after six months is to scrub the latrines. His self-esteem was hurt, and eventually he is tired of life and ashamed of facing his family. 

      Throughout the three stories, Edwidge Danticat portrays the dark side hidden behind “gender” by using an unique way of telling. I can see how it dramatically affects Haitian’s life under the brutal control of government. 

In-class writing

- "The past is like the hair on our head ... you physically leave it, but it doesn't leave you."
    There is always something that we would never forget. It can be a thing, a place or a person. Just like in the story 1937, the day when the massacre happened at the river is a story that the protagonist's mother had often told and would never forget because it was the day her mother left her but her child was given birth.
- "If a woman is worth remembering ... no need to have her name carved in letters."
   There is no need to carve the names of those great women because they would always live at somewhere in people's heart. For Josephine, her mother would always be there toward the sun. She would never forget such a woman who hardly escaped from the massacre with her inside her body.

A Wall of Fire Rising

- Little Guy was assigned to be Bookman in a play. He proudly recited a few lines in front of his parents, which made them felt great pride for hearing the voice of one of the forefathers of Haitian independence. 

- While they were having their dinner of cornmeal, Little Guy kept reading those lines.                               - They went to the sugar mill, where people gathered to watch the news showed on the large television was installed by the government, told stories and made bonfires. 

- The Assad family who owned the sugar mill had a hot-air ballon. They went to watch it when it was not used. Guy was totally obsessed with the hot-air ballon, which made Lili worried. 

- Before they slept, Guy was finally able to tell Lili the news: he got a few hours' work at the sugar mill but it was scrubbing the latrines. Lili tried to console him, but Guy said he was still number 78 on the permeant hire list. He considered to put Little Guy on the list for letting him get a job in the future, which was disagreed by Lili. 

- Their conversation moved to the balloon. Guy thought that he can make the balloon fly, and they talked about the reasons to want to fly but interrupted by their son's scream.

- Little Guy dreamt that he cannot remember the lines. His parents helped him and got him to sleep. 

- In the afternoon, Little Guy returned from school and proudly told his parents that he had got more lines. He recited his new lines to them. 

- After the supper, Guy told the hardships of working at the mill. He said that he wanted to fly the balloon to a place to build his own new house. 

- Their conversation was again interrupted by their son; Little Guy cannot remember his new lines. They helped him to relearn those.

- The next morning, Lily went to the public water fountain with some other women. On her way back, she met Little Guy with terrified expression and told her that Guy took the balloon. 

- They went to the field behind the sugar mill, where a group of workers were watching. 

- Suddenly, a chorus of screams broke out because Guy was trying to jump out of the balloon. Within seconds, Guy hurtled down in the air. The balloon continued floating free. 

- As Little Guy looked at Guy's body, he recited the lines from his play. Lili left Guy's eyes open to look at the sky. 

Nineteen Thirty-Seven

- The protagonist thought her mother died because Madonna cried.

- On the way to prison, an old woman carrying leeches asked to see her Madonna and asked where she is from. The old woman introduced her a place where she can buy food for the person she is going to see in the prison. 

- The protagonist bought food and went to the prison which was built by American Marines during the occupation. 

- She saw her mother, who had grown even thinner and looked more gaunt. 

- During the visit, she said nothing but just handed her mother the Madonna and the food.                         

- When her mother knew the Madonna had cried, she began sobbing herself. 

- The prisoners there were shaved every week and forced to throw cold water at each other for preventing them from gaining enough heat to grow wings and fly away.                                                  

- All the women there were arrested for the same reason: a person had accused them of causing the death of a child and a few others agreed with the story.                                                                                               

- The day before her mother was arrested, her mother helped to look after her friend’s baby who was sick from colic. The next day when she woke up, her mother was hit by the mob who accused her mother of killing her friend’s baby and her mother was dragged by the police.                   

- When Josephine was five, she went on a pilgrimage to the Massacre River, where thousands of Haitians were murdered. At the night her grandmother was taken from her mother, she was given birth.                                                                                                                                                          - Before leaving, Josephine tried to embrace her mother but  her mother pushed her away and asked to her to visiter her again soon and I nodded.                                                                                                                                                                            

- The next time when she visited her mother, Manman had a cough.                                                                                         

- When she went again, before she decided to say something, her mother cried, refused to take the Madonna and asked her to keep it for consoling her when she was completely gone.                         

- A week later, an old woman named Jacqueline stopped by her house and said she had been to the river with her. She told her the death of her mother.                                                                           

- They rushed to the prison and heard the news that her mother’s body will be burned this afternoon. They went to her mother’s cell and took all her personal things.                                             

- She remembered a day of the massacre in 1937, her mother had often told, she leaped from Dominican soil into the water and out on the Haitian side with Josephine inside her body.                      

- In the prison yard, she held the Madonna and raised her head toward the sun thinking, one day she may see her mother there.