Breath, Eyes, Memory

Unfortunately, there are many problems that currently plague the Republic of Haiti. This problems include but are not limited to Haiti is the third hungriest country in the world after Somalia and Afghanistan, the world’s fourth poorest country in the world, and adult literacy in Haiti is at about fifty percent (Shah 1). Haiti is also a location that is flooded with gangland violence which is most of the time motivated by political aggression (Shah 1). In “Breath, Eyes, Memory,” by Edwidge Danticat, characters in the story are influenced very much so by these accurate representations of the misfortunes found in Haiti.
On page four of the text, Tante Atie is portrayed as a character who is one of the fifty percent of adults in the country who is illiterate: “At one time, I would have given anything to be in school. But not at my age. My time is gone.” Tate Atie, as most of the illiterate in Haiti undoubtedly feel, has a longing for literacy but due to her current situation in Haiti feel like this is a missed opportunity in life and one that is no longer attainable. The problem is so widespread in Haiti that it is hard to imagine any of the characters in the book would not be directly effected by such a crisis.
Also the constant violence in Haiti is evident in the text very early on. While Sophie is being rushed to the airport to catch her flight for the United States, a scene of intense violence was witnessed by the main character: “A group of students were standing on top of a hill, throwing rocks at the burning car. They scurried to avoid the tear gas and the round of bullets that the soldiers shot back at them. Some of the students fell and rolled down the hill” (p. 34). Upon witnessing this, Tatie Atie asks Sophie; “Do you see what you are leaving?” (p.34). One of the main benefits for leaving Haiti for Sophie was living in a safer environment where the nation was not a constant state of political violence and unrest.
Hunger is another affliction of Haiti that is evident in the text. When remembering her times in Haiti, Sophie’s mother relates to her daughter how food was not easy to come by. She tells Sophie of how she would eat all that she could whenever she was a child due to her constant state of hunger. It can be said that because of this strained relationship with food that Sophie’s mother develops an eating disorder later in life.
Haiti is an incredibly poor country and the impact of this fact can be seen throughout the text. On page four of the text, Tatie Attie describes how she and Sophie’s mother were so poor that they needed to work in the cane fields as children just to be able to eat. Luxuries such as school were not available to them due to their socioeconomic situation. The widespread poverty in Haiti as well as the other dire conditions of Haiti mentioned above had a strong influence on shaping the lives of the characters found within the text.


Shah, Anup. "Haiti and Human Rights". Global Issues. (http://www.globalissues.org/article/141/haiti-and-human-rights).