19 Varieties of Gazelle: (Section 2) Silent Words

      "The Tray" on page 105 and "A Single Slice Reveals Them" on page 124 both discuss words that are not necessarily spoken. The poem "The Tray"  is about the ritual of tea drinking. Tea drinking is used for numerous reasons but here the author drinks tea with her companions through a situation where people cannot find words. The words are spoken through the shared tea and the only noise comes from the sips. They can share in this exercise. The tea is the beginning of the conversation.
     "A Single Slice Reveals Them" also explains how eating an apple is similar to not sharing words. The meat of the fruit is underneath the skin and the very core contains seeds to ideas, hopes, dreams, and beliefs that can all be accessed through words and speech and sharing with others. these are were the poems can overlap either by sharing words out loud or silently. Talking about things we care about is like peeling back the layers and borders we put up for ourselves. The eating of the apple is the ending of the conversation.

19 Varieties of Gazelle: (Section 1) Comparison

        "What Kind of Fool Am I?" on page 8 and "Red Brocade" on page 40 are poems that curiously show the before and after of culture transitioning. "Red" discusses the cultural norm I assume in the Arabic culture of taking in someone for three days when they ask for refuge, properly feeding and housing them. It also goes on to point out that questions cannot be asked of the stranger until after a certain extent, the author's attitude of the end of the poem suggests this is an inconvenience to her but she must obey this law, "No, I was not busy when you came! I was not pretending to be busy... I refuse to be claimed..." (41).  This is a contrast to the "What Kind.." poem that highlights another culture that I assume is American.
       "What Kind of Fool Am I?" I have interpreted is about a father who had brought and/or started his family in America but kept his old culture in addition to the new one. In the beginning he is singing songs from the Arabic practices but then transitions into English. His children ask him what kind of fools they were and he answers they are not fools at all. The second piece of evidence of the culture transition is when the narrator mentions he has given them the freedom to be fools if they wanted to me. I took this to mean permission freedom, meaning being silly when they want too as well as the freedoms of living in a place such as America, typically connected with the idea of freedom.
       The poems are similar with their obvious influences of the culture they live under but different when it comes to which cultures are being practiced. The first follows one culture while the second poem has the blend of two different cultures.

19 Varieties of Gazelle : comparing poems

            The poems "Red Brocade" (40) and "Jerusalem" (92) are two poems that both illustrate how life use to be versus how it is now, and speaks of determination to continue on.
            Nye talks about the good old fashioned hospitality and trust that use to exist.  how "When a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is" (40).  There was a sense of trust and generosity that has shriveled away.  Toward the end, however, Nye wont give up "I refuse to be claimed" (41).
          At first glance the poem "Jerusalem" seems very different.  With closer examination, however, I found several similarities.  In this poem Nye's father becomes betrayed by his best friend.  A rock is thrown at his head and then the friend says that "he was aiming at a bird".  The following statement "and my father starts growing wings" clarifies that the friend is in fact lying.  A best friend use to be a sacred thing, like hospitality.  Being betrayed by your best friend is a huge change in the old classic dynamics.  But the father keeps his head up even when "Soldiers stalk a pharmacy: big guns, little pills" (93).  When your whole world becomes turned upside down, staying strong and fighting is the best thing that can be done. Both of these poems illustrate this staying strong against changing surroundings.

Irene Bloomer      

19 Varieties of Gazelle (Section 1): A Home in this World

     The two poems that I chose to compare and contrast were "My Father and the Figtree" (p. 6-7) and "My Grandmother in the Stars" (p. 69). From face value (and based on the titles) it is clear to see that both of these works center around important people in Nye's life, (i.e. her father and grandmother). Since these two figures provide Nye with her Middle Eastern heritage and background, I think Nye uses these two familial characters to emphasize the importance of roots and developing one's sense of home. Both poems, written in a similar story-telling fashion, incorporate similar themes of world views, being interwoven (i.e. "scarves"), and chasing one's desires.
    In the first poem, "My Father and the Figtree,"  Nye's father expresses his love for the fig. I think that the fig represents the richness of his culture and how, no matter where he went, he longed for a place where he could be surrounded by the "sweetest" fruit there was; but could never find it. When he discounted a dried fig as generic and lifelyess saying, "I'm talking about a fig straight from the earth---gift of Allah!---on a branch so heavy it touches the ground" (l. 15-17) Nye is trying to show the significance of the fruit and how it is a direct gift from above, but comes down on the same level of the people despite it's opulence. It isn't until he finds a home with a figtree that grew naturally that Nye's father feels he has finally found a place in this world that is his own. His home.
    Compared to the second poem, "My Grandmother in the Stars," Nye, again discusses finding one's place in the world, but goes on to further discuss what makes that place a home. Nye, now deals with the passing of her grandmother, a very religious woman, and says "Where we live in the world is never one place" (l. 12-13) which I believe ties into the first poem. Nye and her grandmother are from two different worlds, but through it all, the sky, and their beliefs, hold them together (just as Nye's father's beliefs kept him grounded in spite of his constant moving). Not only does a grounded faith keep Nye and her family united, their memories with each other connect them when they can no longer reside in the same home. No matter what, they will always have the roots of their "figtree" and memories to make them rich.

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Quote

     "If grandmothers and children were in charge of the world, there would never be any wars" (p. xviii). I found this quote particularly endearing because I think it really captured the essence and value system of the author. Obviously, as the matriarch of the family and the anchor of Nye's Middle Eastern roots and culture, her grandmother represented a purity and faith that had been lost in so many other forms. I think this quote, and the entire introduction, set the appropriate tone to help see the poems in the way the author intended. It is about learning to be free, but never forgetting one's roots, or innocence in the wake of tragedy.

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Power of Words

       "Writers, believers in words, could not give up words when the going got rough. I found myself, as millions did, turning to poetry." Page vxi.
       In reference to a tragic event did Nye say this quote, especially September 11th. Even though it is a cliche that 'actions speak louder than words', I believe in the other cliche that says 'the pen is mightier than the sword' whole heartily. Words are universal even if they are in different languages and provide one of the greatest outlets for emotions, ideas, and knowledge. Poetry for the author meant getting her voice out into the world and showing actions of a few people do not reflect or determine the attitudes of an entire people. This quote immediately spoke to me, universal words and universal feelings.

19 Varieties of Gazelle : Arabic

"The man with laughing eyes stopped smiling to say, 'Until you speak Arabic, you will not understand pain" (90).
    I really enjoyed this quote.  It made me stop and think.   Its simple, short, but very powerful.  When someone has "laughing eyes" that is true joy, something you cant fake.  But then to have all his joy sucked out of his eyes with his next sentence puts added importance and enfaces on it.  Here, it is being stated that only true Arabs, ones that speak Arabic, understand true pain.  That is a very bold statement but by having a normally joyous person say it gives it added validity.  It is stated in such a way that instead of challenging such a bold statement, one pities.

Irene Bloomer

Breath, Eyes, Memory: Foreshadowing

Toward the end of this book there was lots of foreshadowing hinting towards Sophie's mother's suicide.  When she is talking to Sophie about the baby she talks about the baby being the death of her.  How the child was talking to her, and trying to hurt her.  Later she sings "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child" and says "I want that sung at my funeral" (215).  Most parents pray that their children will out live them.  When Sophie's mother dies, however, she leaves not only Sophie a motherless child, but her unborn baby as well.  Later that evening.  when saying goodbye, Sophie's mother hugs her and wont let go, Marc then says to her "She will come back" and separates the two of them (216).  That scene would in fact be the last time that this mother and daughter would ever see each other face to face.  The final words ever spoken between the two of them would later be "Pray to the Virgin Mother for me" (217).  All of these actions and statements are hints towards Sophie's mother's future death.  Not only her death, but the way in which she dies is also important.  She stabs her unborn child twelve times.  The final thing she ever says to Sophie is a biblical statement, and she stabs herself.  "Pray to the Virgin Mother" is a very important last statement.  She feels the guilt because she is not in fact a virgin herself, she has now been pregnant twice and not one married.  She can no longer identify herself with the Virgin Mary.  This reference to god is also interesting as she commits suicide and a violent act such as this makes it so one can no longer get into heaven.  For someone so religious she had committed quite a few sins herself.

Breath, Eyes, Memory: Home?

          "'You have never called it[Haiti] that since we've been together. Home has always been your mother's house, that you could never go back to'" (195). It was very curious to me the multiple meanings I had concluded from this line Joseph had said to Sophie. The firs meaning was the use of the word home. I suspect from this line Sophie never refers to her house with Joseph her home but places she had to leave unwillingly. Her "home" at her mother's house and leaving there I believe was unwilling because she probably didn't want to leave there but felt that she had to when her mother threatened to never come back. Unwilling because at the time it seemed to be her only option to leave and go to Joseph. When she first left Haiti she did not want to leave as well in fear of finally meeting her mother and leaving the only life she had ever known with her Tante Atie. The second time she leaves Haiti, this time referring to it as her home, she has to resume her life with her husband back in America. Another obligation she must fulfill. 

           Her label of home also seems to be wherever her mother is. Perhaps she is subconsciously recognizing that her connection to her mother is stronger than she wants to admit, even to herself. "..Home has always been your mother's house..." This is the place Sophie truly became someone's daughter which really signifies the importance of her role in the mother/daughter relationship. Mothers in many cultures make houses into homes because they provide a sense of security and nurture. Even though Sophie didn't realize until the never end that her mother testing was not an actual punishment but what her mother felt was just proper procedure for keeping her daughter pure she can see the love in her mothers actions (207). When she refers to Haiti as her home it is the time she spends with her grandmother, aunt and mother. All three generation, four including the baby, but only three mothers. This is probably the only time Sophie's family was the closest to complete probably prompting her to categorize it as a home. Such "home" things were the sharing of beds, which all of the members of the family have done, the cooking with the spices tying them together, as well as the storytelling. 

          The last conclusion drawn from Joseph's choice of words are "...that you could never go back to.." Originally when Sophie left her mother's she felt that she would never be allowed to go back there, banished. Her mother wouldn't even return any of the letters Sophie had sent. As far as she was concerned she would never be returning to that "home". When departing from Haiti and returning to America Sophie probably felt that she would never really be able to return to Haiti or at least when she did it would only be for funerals. When going back for funerals the people that made it home for her would have passed on, no longer giving the home feel. In fact her third time being in Haiti, her essential "home" beacon is gone physically forever. Her mother is lost to her, just as they were starting over.

Breath, Eyes, Memory 2: The Color of Skin

Through my continued reading of Danticat's novel and application of the posts made earlier this week in my analysis of the text, I have found the theme of color to be of increasing importance. I'm not sure if this was an observation had by all, but the imagery used to describe the places, the environment, and (most importantly) the people in this story is both subtle and vivid. As discussed earlier this week, the importance of yellow and red were important for Sophie; but what I also saw as important was how Sophie observed the color of other's skin in reference to various shades of brown.

Based on the information provided from last class's lecture, we know that there were many variations in race and skin color in Haiti. I think this is an important theme that Danticat explores as all people of dark skin are not "black" and all people of light skin are not "white." There are unique nuances in everyone's pigmentation whether they be copper-, russet-, or mud-colored, every person's skin is beautiful for it is a map of all the people and places that have touched a person during their life. Sophie is very aware that her skin is not like her aunt's, mother's, or daughter's, but it is her coming to terms with her own beauty that is so important to her self and racial identity. Although not the most important theme in the text, I found Danticat's way of incorporating this common idea to be clever and beautiful.

Breath, Eyes, Memories: Tante Atie

What I don't understand is why Tante Atie was so opposed to the Mother's Day card from Sophie. Sophie made it with the intention of giving it to her aunt, so I believe her aunt should have accepted it. I believe she was as deserving as any other mother for a card with a flower inside of it.Even if it was her actual mother's favorite flower, a daffodil. Tante Atie had raised Sophie and loved and nurtured her exactly like a mother for her own daughter. Although she always referred to Sophie as "her child" (31). The days leading up to Sophie's departure it was obvious Tante Atie began to mourn over the loss of "her child".

I do believe that Atie strongly believed in the relationship between a mother and daughter and felt that Sophie was never really hers in that type of relationship but probably wanted to. She was unable to have a family of her own because the love of her life married someone else. Maybe it is painful for Atie to think of Sophie as her daughter knowing she will never have one of her flesh and bone. Only her sister's flesh and bone being her daughter. It was refreshing that Atie had always spoke highly of her sister and put the faith in her a being a good mother once Sophie was returned to her, but I think Sophie enjoyed the mere idea of her mother. 

Breath, Eyes, Memory : important color themes

              From the start of the book there became a repeating theme of the color yellow, especially in reference to daffodils.  The book starts on page 3 with "dried yellow leaves". Throughout the first part of the book, while Sophie is still in Haiti there is talk of the sun, wildflowers, and yellow dresses.  On page 21 Tante Atie states "Everything you own is yellow...wildflower yellow, like dandelions, sunflowers".  Here Sophie interjects with "and daffodils".  The only picture Sophie has of her mother is one in which she is wrapped in yellow sheets and has daffodils in her hair.  This color yellow is a comfortable color for Sophie, one that represents home for her.
               When Sophie first arrives in New York she gets into a "pale yellow car" and her bed in her new home has "yellow sheets".  While Sophie is no longer in Haiti this is her new home.  She is now with her mother for the first time in twelve years and while everything will take some time to get use to, the theme is still her safe warm yellow color.
              When things started to take a turn for the worst for Sophie was when her mother "Started growing hibiscus.  She had grown tired of daffodils.  We decorated our new living room in red, everything from the carpet to the plastic roses on the coffee table" (65).   Not long ofter this color chance Sophie becomes involved with Joseph.  We don't see yellow again until Sophie is happy, putting on her "tight fitted yellow dress" to go out with Joseph.  This is when she begins to get the annual testing from her mother and part two ends with red blood and Sophie being kicked out of her house.  Red means no longer pure.

Breath, Eyes, Memory: Education vs. Work

During my reading of the first half of Danticat's novel, I found the reoccurring theme of education versus work to be very prominent, especially in terms of young women moving up in society. Both Atie and Martine continue to remind Sophie of how precious and important it is for her to be educated, no matter what. Because both sisters had dreams of being highly educated but were derailed by "finding out they had limits" (43), they want to see their Sophie accomplishes what they couldn't. Atie and Martine both had to work long hours to get even the simplest things they wanted in life, but for Sophie things could be different.
Despite their good intentions, I think that the pressure put on Sophie to learn English, go to school, and then attend college has ended up stifling her a great deal. It isn't until she meets someone, a man no less, who opted to leave his educational pursuits to follow his passions, that she realizes there may be more out there than working your fingers to the bone in the fields or your brain to death in the classroom. While her aunt and mother want the best for her, their constant pressure and sheltering of Sophie has prevented her from ever exploring her own interests, wishes, or desires. As seen when Joseph asked her what she wanted to do with her life (72), Sophie expresses that "that was the problem. Sophie really wasn't sure [what she wanted to do]. I had never really dared to dream on my own." Perhaps if Sophie had gotten to make her own choices about her life things would have been different. Maybe not every girl has to force an education to become successful.