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.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
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.
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I particularly noticed the mother's desperate attempt to lighten her skin as if lightening her skin would further distance herself from the past and from the things she would not like to remember. Although all of that hard work goes to waste whenever she looks at Sophie's face, being that of the father's. Sophie makes the observation of the fact she could still see the ebony part of her skin underneath when she did not bleach. This is significant because changing the surface of something cannot always change the underneath.
ReplyDeleteI noticed color surrounding Sophies mother to me the most important. Not only did she make the transformation from yellow to red throughout the book, but like Chelsea said she also attempted to go from a darker brown to a lighter one. She tries so hard to recreate herself. She changes so much about her outside appearance, yet is unable to change her tortured inside.
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