Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat takes place after the Haitian Revolution. The novel is said to break the silence that has monopolized and overtaken the Haitian culture and its rich history. The Haitian Revolution was from 1791 – 1804 and marked the violent time period which ultimately led to the elimination of slavery and the establishment of Haiti as the very first republic ruled by blacks, marking the revolt of 1791 as the only successful slave revolt in history. During the Haitian Revolution state laws were continuously being passed that added stipulations and denied slave entry from the Caribbean. As the American Studies association brings out in an abstract, “The passage of those measures signaled, as Alfred Hunt has persuasively argued, the beginning of the white South’s intellectual blockade, culminating in censorship of the U.S. mail and the suppression of civil liberties and freedom of thought.” (ASA) The novel was said to be the awakening of the Haitian culture that was suppressed during the Haitian Revolution. The novel reveals the hidden stories of the Haitian women and their struggle, how they were “brutalized by a continuing cycle of exploitation, repression, and denial and in doing so evokes the disavowals, blockades, and refusals with which Haiti was greeted by the young American Republic in narrative and foreign policy.” (ASA)
Looking at the women’s struggles in particular, we are able to see evidence from the text of some of the issues that they had to deal with; one of the major issues being rape. The end of chapter seven of the text states, “When they looked up from their plates, my mother and Marc eyed each other like there were things they couldn’t say because of my presence. I tried to stuff myself and keep quiet, pretending that I couldn’t even see them. My mother now had two lives: Marc belonged to her present life, I was a living memory from her past.” This passage touches on the fact that a lot of the Haitian women were being taken advantage of and raped by the Americans that were supposed to be there helping them, however this was just the façade that was presented. Rape to young Haitian women was so common during this time, that it had a lasting effect on all of the women who were directly and indirectly touched by it. It led the Haitian women to go to such extremes as testing to ensure and “protect” the virginity of their daughters.
Donaldson, Susan. "Recovering Haiti: Silence, History and Trauma in Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Studies Association,
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