The Dew Breaker #2

I just finished reading Edwidge Danticat's "The Dew Breaker." I found that the end of the story did tie up a few loose ends. It cleared up the fact that the "Book of the Dead" and "Book of Miracles" was the same family, with the dialogue about Anne's younger brother dying, and the father's scar across his face. There was a definite connection between physical and emotional hurt throughout the book. I think the physical hurt got worse as the story progressed and took us deeper into Haiti. It started with the scar across the man's face, the girl who lost her voice, the blind aunt, and many others.

The story ended with Anne's brother burning himself, which Anne could never get over because he left behind no corpse to bury. I think this particular brother was her stepbrother, the preacher, since I think her younger brother died in the ocean while she was having a seizure. I think she felt as if she never had closure for these people's deaths since they didn't leave behind a corpse. I saw the corpses as symbols for the people of Haiti's many traumatic secrets during this time. I think Anne just wanted to see them, just like Dany really wanted to bring his secrets out into the open and talk about them. The physical pain had a lot of symbolism to it; for example, the girl with the lost voice could have symbolized any of the characters in this story, especially Dany, Estime, Beatrice, Anne, and the preacher. They all had things they wanted to say, but couldn't. The blinded woman could have symbolized those who blinded themselves trying to do something which they thought was heroic at the time, such as the father.

I think the main point to this story was that everyone has these traumatic secrets, and that trauma is what makes life what it is. Like the preacher says, "What would be the meaning of life, or death, without some lingering regrets?" (227). Regrets are not necessarily trauma, but trauma could be a part of it. Also, I saw a very important connection when the woman is describing the man who tortured her in prison, and when the preacher is describing Ka's father. The woman says, "He'd wound you, then try to soothe you with words, then he'd wound you again. He thought he was God" (199). The preacher says, "He made you uncomfortable, then pretended to relieve your discomfort, so you'd feel grateful to him and think he was on your side" (224). I think here the author is trying to describe the way life works. You'll get hurt, then something good will happen and you'll think you are finally happy, when sometimes it will all come crashing down again. It was very interesting how the woman said he thought he was God. Mostly, I just think this book is about the interesting secrets every person keeps, and how these characters could relate to any family coming out of this disaster in Haiti.