Arline O’Hearon, Dananir Arafat, Hilton Weeks
Chapter Summaries:
Chapter
30:
This
chapter starts off after Amabelle and Yves cross the river and
witness Odette and Wilner's deaths. They were found by a priest and a
young doctor who were looking for survivors along the riverbank. The
priest and the doctor take Amabelle and Yves to a clinic where they
take care of Amabelle. While in the clinic, Amabelle has a dream
about her mother rising above the river that she drowned in. In her
dream, her mother reassures Amabelle that she loves her and has
always loved her and that she is going to be okay. In the clinic,
Amabelle listens the stories of others about what had happened to
them. One man in particular says “I felt like my woman on our first
night together”. This man was struck my a machete and ended up in a
pile of corpses. When he awoke, he said he felt like his woman on
their first night together because his wife woke up in the middle of
night and started screaming because she had forgotten where she had
been. Amabelle is in and out of sleep for days because of her fever
and doesn't have any sense of time when she finally wakes up. The nun
asks Amabelle who the man was that came to take care of her everyday
and Amabelle assumes it was Sabastein but then finds out it was
actually Yves. Yves has been looking everywhere for Sebastien and
Mimi but hasn't had any luck so far. Yves goes and visits Amabelle
and tells her that he is going back to his land and asks her if she
wants to come. Amabelle nods her head yes and when Yves comes back
the next day, he tells Amabelle that his will take her to Sebastien's
house and she will be reunited with him and Mimi. On page 217
Amabelle says “I looked for my face in the tin ceiling above me as
I waited for Yves to return. With everyone lying face up and with
their bodies so close together, I couldn't tell which face was mine.”
This quote shows how the clinic is filling up with more people but
also the fact the Amabelle doesn't recognize herself anymore after
everything that has happened.
Chapter
31:
Yves
and Amabelle leave the clinic in a camión (a bus) and go to the Cap.
The Cap is described as “an old new city” and “a city burnt to
the ground many times for its own salvation”. After they get off
the bus, Amabelle and Yves walk past shops while the shopkeepers and
merchants stared at them and knew where they came from just by
looking at them. When they reach the cathedral, a woman gives
Amabelle an orange and gives her instructions to warm it over a fire,
rub on her body and take a bath to help heal her scars and bruises.
Amabelle and Yves make it to Yves' mother's house and she greets
them. When they first arrive, Yves's mother thinks that Amabelle is
Yves' “woman”. On page 224, Amabelle remembers what her father
used to say “Misery won't touch you gentle. It always leaves its
thumbprints on you; sometimes it leaves them for others to see,
sometimes for nobody but you to know of.”
Chapter
32:
Yves'
mother moves his six cousins out of his old bedroom so him and
Amabelle can share the bed. While Amabelle is sitting on the bed, she
overhears Yves' mother asking him who she is and where her people
are. Yves says nothing. Amabelle goes outside to the yard to bath
herself with the orange and hears the courtyard children giggling at
her. She then says, “In spite of their curiosity, I knew that my
body could no longer be a tempting spectacle, nor would I ever be
truly young or beautiful, if I ever had been. Now my flesh was simply
a map of scars and bruises, a marred testament.” The next morning,
Yves' mother walks up to Amabelle, kisses her on the forehead and
tells her that she knows her story. Yves spends his days in the field
planting even though his mother tells him that it isn't the right
season. While Yves is working in the field and his mother is visiting
a friend, Amabelle asks around and finds out where Sebastien, Mimi
and their mother lived. Amabelle pays a boy in mint candy to take her
to the house. When they get to the house, their was no activity other
than a girl rushing in and out of the yard, carrying jugs of water on
her head. Amabelle walks by the house everyday to see if Sebastien
and Mimi show up. Thinking of Sebastien worries Amabelle that he
would will recognize her if he ever saw her again.
Weeks
go by and Yves and Amabelle have formed a routine; settling into a
quiet companionship. Yves works in his father’s fields all day and
Amabelle only sees him at night. While in bed one night Yves tells
her that officials are giving out money to the survivors from the
Generalissimo. Although he gives them restitution he does not admit
guilt. They both agree to go the next morning; when they arrive there
are over a thousand people from all over waiting to tell their
stories. The badly injured and pregnant are permitted first. Yves and
Amabelle wait for sixteen days and on the sixteenth day Man Denise
shows up but unfortunately they announce that they will no longer be
giving out money. This outrages the crowd and they end up charging
the entrance looking for someone to hear them out. Yves and Amabelle
end up taking Man Denise back to her home. Amabelle ends up staying
the night with her; she finds out a bit about Sebastien’s past. Man
Denise also informs her that she has heard that her children were
killed.
Chapter
34:
Amabelle
returns to Yves house and discovers that Yves has told his mother the
reason that there is no love between the two of them. Yves tries to
forget the past by focusing on the future but Amabelle can’t do
that and fears she may never. While in bed with Yves he tells her
that he would have died if it weren’t for Joel; he pushed him out
of the way of the car. He isn’t exactly a coward, just
self-preserving. He could never save another person’s life if it
meant his own. He hid when he saw Sebastien and Mimi. Amabelle feels
she may have killed Odette in the river on accident and Yves tells
her that she died when Wilner died. She is grateful for this and the
two end up “sleeping” together that night.
Chapter
35:
Amabelle
goes back to Man Denise’s house the next afternoon only to find out
that she has gone back to Port-au-Prince. She ends up at afternoon
mass at Cap’s Cathedral. She speaks with a woman, the two discuss
their pasts and where they come from. She waits until after mass to
talk to Father Emil. At first he thinks she is there to tell her tale
which they have stopped doing. Amabelle asks if he has heard of
Father Romain or Father Vargas. She finds out they are still alive
and that Father Romain is living near the border.
Chapter
36:
In
chapter 36 Amabelle was focused on going and visiting father Romain,
for answers and for information. She travels across the border to see
father Romain but to her surprise, father Romain doesn't remember who
she is, or remember anything important to that matter. He’s been
subjected to old age and the torture he experienced years ago when he
was trapped. The drool, and the uneasiness of his eyes were clear
indications of his mental state, which was not in good standing.
Amabelle proceed to question father Romain about the whereabouts and
history of Mimi and Sabastian. Unable to give Amabelle a clear
answer, he mumbles on about things unrelated to what Amabelle asked.
Though he starts speaking about the history about how his country was
invaded by outsiders, by far too many outsiders. He ends up saying
that dominicans must have separate traditions and own ways of living,
if not soon they will assimilate into Haitians. The conversation
ended with a farewell from Amabelle and a greeting from father
Romain. Another example of how severe father Romain’s mental state
is.
Chapter
37:
Chapter
37 was a reflection on Amabelle’s feelings on her past, how it was
hurtful time for her. She's thinks about all that happened, how it
could've gone different.
Discussion Questions:
(Chapter 33, page 242)
“When you know you’re going to die, you try to be near the bones of your own people. You don’t even think you have bones when you’re young, even when you break them, you don’t believe you have them. But when you’re old, they start reminding you they’re there. They start turning to dust on you, even as you’re walking here and there, going from place to place”
How does this quote relate to the role of bodies in the novel?
(Chapter
31, page 224-225)
“I remembered what my father used to say as he would hurry off with a knapsack of bottles filled with leaves and warm rum, as he raced to a birth or to a death, thinking of ways to encourage of halt the event. 'Misery won't touch you gentle. It always leaves its thumbprints on you; sometimes it leaves them for others to see, sometimes for nobody but you to know of.'”
“I remembered what my father used to say as he would hurry off with a knapsack of bottles filled with leaves and warm rum, as he raced to a birth or to a death, thinking of ways to encourage of halt the event. 'Misery won't touch you gentle. It always leaves its thumbprints on you; sometimes it leaves them for others to see, sometimes for nobody but you to know of.'”
Misery
plays a big role in the novel. It seems that every character in the
book is dealing with some kind of pain or misery. Why do you think
Danticat chose to add this quote at this particular part of the
chapter?
(Chapter
36, page 260)
“They once came here only to cut sugarcane, but now there are more of them than there will ever be cane to cut, you understand?”
“They once came here only to cut sugarcane, but now there are more of them than there will ever be cane to cut, you understand?”
What
do you think of this, and do you think this is a clear
representation of what happened to their country?
Contextual
Material:
Father
Romain’s
symptoms such as Trouble concentrating, emotionally numb,Trying to
avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event, relates to the
symptoms of PTSD.
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