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.