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DuringKrik Krak Cruel World During the twentieth century, many Haitians lived a life full of poverty and terror; do to the many wars and epidemics that were established in the country. Throughout her novel Krak? Krak! , Edwidge Danticat depicts the violence, brutality and cruelty her people suffered during that time. In her first two stories, we get a glimpse of the horror in which the Haitian culture had to endure. Whether it was a group of protesting students getting gunned down, a young women being gang raped, or an innocent women being sentenced to life in prison because she was believed to be a witch, the terror and horror seemed endless. How could a human being treat another in such a manner?
How could a Haitian treat another Haitian with so much cruelty and have that kind of malice for his own people? Danticat shows us the pain of her people through her words and demonstrates their healing power through her various short stories. In her first short story, Children of the Sea we are introduced to two young adults who are in love with one another but who are separated because of the terror which existed in their Haitian society. Because they feared for their lives, they had to part in hopes that they would stay alive to see each other once again.
The society in which they lived was became incredibly violent due to the Haitian army trying to rid the country of anyone who was against the government or who they thought was a traitor. The army or mahouts, as they were referred to, were cruel and ruthless. One of the young narrators in the story wrote in her journal a group of students got shot in front of fort dimanche prison today. our neighbor madan roger came home with her sons head. the mahouts by the house were laughing at her. they asked her if it was her dinner (p. 7).
The mascots mocked and laughed at helpless women carrying around the head of her dead son, who they had previously shot. They shot him because he didnt agree with the government and its policies. But the mascots did not stop at just taunting Madan Roger, they also severely beat her. the soldiers came looking for her son. madan roger was screaming, you killed him already. he hated you like I hate you criminals.
you killed him. they start to pound at her. you can hear the guns coming down on her head. it sounds like they are cracking all the bones in her body (p. 16). The terror of the mascots did not just stop with killing, they also began to use cruel and unusual punishment on the Haitian people. These heartless soldiers forcibly started making Haitian families commit incest.
They would hold a gun to the head of man and make him sleep with his daughter or hold a gun to the head of young man and make him sleep with his mother... they have this thing the do. if they come into a house and there is a son and mother there, they hold a gun to their heads. they make the son sleep with his mother. if it is a daughter and father, they do the same thing (p. 12). If they resisted they would shoot them.
The soldiers held a gun to Lionel's head and ordered him to become intimate with his mother. Lionel refused. Their mother told him to go ahead and obey the soldiers because she was afraid they would kill Lionel on the spot. Lionel did as his mother told him, crying as the soldiers laughed at him, pressing the barrels farther into his neck (p. 23).
The rain of terror from the mascots did not stop with forcibly incest. They would also tie families up with rope and make them watch as one of the females was gang raped by the group of soldiers. the soldiers tied up Lionel and their mother, then they each took turns raping Celianne (p. 23). The girl was only fifteen years old when the callous group of men raped her. Nonetheless, she became pregnant with one of their children and later killed herself. In her second short story, Nineteen Thirty-Seven, Danticat depicts the horror imprisonment had on an innocent women.
She was accused by a women she tried to help of being a witch and was beaten by an angry mob. There was the sound of a crowd outside. When I rushed out I saw a group of people taking my mother away. Her face was bleeding from the pounding blows of rocks and sticks and the fists of strangers. her face was swollen to three times the size that it had been (p. 39).
Prison life had made this women look incredibly old and become very thin from malnutrition. Her face was gray, her teeth were dark red with blood and her skin looked as if it were going to fall off because it was so loose. Because she looked this way, her prison term was extended to life. It was extended because the guards thought that the wrinkles resulted from her taking off her skin at night and then putting it back on in a hurry, before sunrise (p. 36). Every week the guards would shave her head and when she went to sleep, they would make other inmates throw cold water on her so their bodies would not be able to muster up enough heat to grow wings (p. 37). The guards wanted to make her and the rest of the inmates accused of being witches, look like crows.
As a result of the malnutrition she was receiving, she was beaten down like a dog and killed because the guards believed her to be a true witch (p. 47). They said prison could not cure her (p. 47) Life in Haiti during this time was not easy. People where killed because of their opinions and beaten because of someone elses. Cruelty and brutality ruled the Haitian society. Danticat shows us how unfair life can be and how cowardly and heartless some people are.
It is hard to believe human beings can treat each other the way they do. 31 a
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