45 pages • 1 hour read
Edwidge DanticatKrik? Krak!
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 1996A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Background
Story Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaThemes
The Importance of Art in the Face of Violence
Throughout the collection, Edwidge Danticat insists on the importance of art as a means of coping with extraordinary violence. In “A Wall of Fire Rising,” “Seeing Things Simply,” and the Epilogue, Danticat demonstrates the power of theater, visual arts, and literature to transport Haitians away from their reality into a more beautiful, hopeful world. In the first of these stories, seven-year-old Little Guy, who lives in a one-room home with his parents, is cast as Haitian revolutionary hero Dutty Boukman in a school play. Watching their son practice his lines, Little Guy’s parents “felt as though for a moment they had been given the rare pleasure of hearing the voice of one of the forefathers of Haitian independence in the forced baritone of their child” (57). The experience of Little Guy’s performance momentarily transports the family away from their home in a shantytown to a moment of immense pride and historical importance, suggesting the importance of art as a hopeful measure against poverty and violence.
Princesse, the protagonist of “Seeing Things Simply,” is similarly surrounded by poverty and violence: Her story indicates that art can help to make sense of violence. As she walks past cockfights to her job as an artist’s model, Princesse is repeatedly harassed by an older drunk man who tries to lift her skirt. In these scenes, the drunk man is explicitly connected to the violence of the cockfights, which both contrast with the highbrow, artistic conversations Princesse has with Catherine. As she learns more about art, Princesse realizes that “a good painting would not only capture the old man’s features but also his moods and personality” (133). This progression of her relationship to the man indicates that artistic theory is helping Princesse to make sense of the changing world around her.
In the epilogue to Krik? Krak!, Danticat explicitly argues the importance of art, specifically literature, as a tool of survival: “[Y]ou thought that if you didn’t tell the stories, the sky would fall on your head. […] There have been days where the sky was as close as your hair to falling on your head” (223). The epilogue suggests that writing was a life-saving practice for Danticat as a young girl in Haiti and as an immigrant in the United States. Here, as in “A Wall of Fire Rising” and “Seeing Things Simply,” Danticat demonstrates the importance of art in the face of violence and poverty.
Gendered Violence and Female Solidarity
The stories collected in Krik? Krak! detail the specific forms of violence inflicted on women in Haiti, and stress the importance of female solidarity in resisting that violence. The girls featured in “Children of the Sea,” and “The Missing Peace” are subject to sexual violence at the hands of the Haitian state. The strength of the women in “Nineteen Thirty-Seven,” on the other hand, demonstrates the power of female solidarity. “Children of the Sea” features a 15-year-old girl named Célianne who gives birth to a stillborn baby onboard a refugee ship. It is revealed that Célianne’s home was raided by the Tonton Macoute, and that the soldiers “each took turns raping Célianne” (23) while forcing her family to watch. Célianne ultimately dies by suicide, and her life and death are representative of the uniquely gendered violence that Haitian girls experience at a young age.
The experience of Lamort, the narrator of “The Missing Peace,” is less explicitly violent, but similarly demonstrates the underlying threat of sexual violence facing Haitian girls. As the story begins, Lamort is with an older soldier, Raymond, who is implied to be her boyfriend. Lamort is actively resisting his attempts to have sex with her: “I got up and tried to run to the other side of the field, but he caught both my legs and yanked me down again” (103). Although Raymond does not force himself on her, he is persistent, and the threat of sexual violence is ever-present. Later, another solider named Toto catches Lamort and another girl out past curfew, and explicitly threatens to assault them: “[Y]ou would not want to have blood on your nice communion dress” (117). The reference to Lamort’s communion dress highlights her innocence and youth in the face of sexual violence.
The collective of women described in “Nineteen Thirty-Seven” face extraordinary violence during the 1937 massacre of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. Although that violence was not directed specifically at women, the narrative centers the women’s experiences and indicates that female solidarity has helped to heal the trauma of the massacre: “[W]e were all daughters of that river, which had taken our mothers from us. Our mothers were ashes and we were the light. Our mothers were the embers and we were the sparks” (41). In “Nineteen Thirty-Seven,” Danticat demonstrates the importance of female solidarity in healing generational trauma and facing the gendered violence described across the stories collected in Krik? Krak!
The Resilience of Women Across the Haitian Diaspora
Krik? Krak! offers an unflinching look at the violence and poverty to which Haitian people are subjected; however, Danticat also insists on the resilience of women across the Haitian diaspora. The women featured in “Night Women,” “New York Day Women,” and “Caroline’s Wedding” display remarkable resilience in the face of difficult situations in order to provide for their families. In the first story, an anonymous young woman engages in sex work in order to provide for her young son. Although, as a result of her work, “night is the time I dread most in my life,” (83) she acknowledges that “if I am to live, I must depend on it” (83). Her resilience is evident not only in her dedication to working to support her son, but also in her determination to hide it, and help him “forget that we live in a place where nothing lasts” (86). The narrator’s strength is evidence of the resilience of women living in Haiti.
“New York Day Women” and “Caroline’s Wedding” demonstrate the resilience of Haitian women living in New York City. In the first story, the narrator Suzette’s mother is a Haitian immigrant who “taught herself to read as a little girl in Haiti from the books that her brothers brought home from school” (151). Throughout the story, Suzette sees her mother as feeble and in need of protection; however, the very fact that Suzette has a successful job at an advertising agency in New York is evidence of her mother’s resilience and ability to survive and create a life for her daughter as an immigrant in the United States. Her work as a nanny, which she kept secret from Suzette, is further evidence of her continued resilience, despite her daughter’s assumptions. “Caroline’s Wedding” offers a similar example of a mother’s resilience in the face of violence and heartbreak. When the narrator’s mother, Hermine, was three months pregnant, she was arrested in a raid at her workplace and spent three days in immigration jail. While she was incarcerated, Hermine was injected with a drug that ultimately led her daughter Caroline to be born without a forearm. Although Hermine is initially unsure about Caroline’s wedding, the narrative suggests that Caroline’s happy future is the product of Hermine’s resilience as the head of an immigrant family. As the narrator says in her wedding toast, Caroline’s happy life is only possible because “our parents made this journey” (207). Here, as in “Night Women” and “New York Day Women,” Danticat demonstrates the resilience of women across the Haitian diaspora.
Related Titles
By Edwidge Danticat
