Summary
Part I: Chapter 1
Sophie is coming home from school with a card she made for Mother’s Day for her aunt Atie. It has a pressed daffodil on it.
Atie asks Sophie how school was and Sophie replies that it is fine but she does not like the days when parents come to read with the students because Atie never comes. Atie says she uses this time to rest and work. There was a time, she explains, that she would have done anything to go to school but that time has passed. She wants Sophie to go to school and never have to work in the cane fields.
Sophie knows that when Atie is sad she talks about the cane fields, where people die every day of sunstroke. Tante Atie saw her own father stop to wipe his brow and fall over dead. Grandmother screamed but he did not come back.
The albino man, Chabin, comes up the road with lottery tickets. People say he can see the future when he looks into their eyes. Tante Atie says today they will play her sister’s age, 31, twice. Atie always says the lottery “was like love. Providence was not with her, but she was patient” (6).
Sophie looks at the paper and asks her aunt if it would not be good to read but Atie assures her that the time has passed.
Children across the street play in a pile of leaves. Atie says the children should be good to their mothers and not make a mess. Sophie asks if Mother’s Day will make her sad and Atie asks why; Sophie says she looks like someone who is going to be sad. Atie marvels at her insight.
Sophie takes out her card, which she had planned to put under her aunt’s pillow, and gives it to her now. Tante Atie refuses, though, and says they must send it to her mother.
Sophie only knows her mother from a picture of her, though she sometimes saw her in dreams.
Tante Atie covers her face, and tells Sophie she will come in when she is done feeling sad. Sophie tries to make her take the card but Atie will not yield.
Later that evening, they prepare to go to the potluck. The sun sets and lamps are lit over the quarter. Sophie asks her aunt if something is troubling her and Atie replies that she should not worry about her. The men file out of their houses and the women carry steaming tins of tea and bread. Monsieur Augustin starts a big fire. His wife passes out tea.
Tante Atie explains that the potlucks started a long time ago in the hills because people would clear fields for planting and then come together for food. In the nights they danced and ate and laughed. Now the people in Croix-des-Rosets are city workers and many earn money to support their families in the provinces. Tante Atie tells Sophie they are lucky to have a large house with one room just for sleeping. Everyone still comes together for these potlucks, though, and celebrates life.
Madame Augustin asks Tante Atie if her sister Martine sent her a gift. Tante Atie tries to ignore the woman. Sophie wonders why Atie would not show her the cassettes from her mother, and tries to listen to the conversation. Madame Augustin asks about Martine and Tante Atie replies primly that she is fine. The women begin to needle Atie about why she does not go to visit and finally Madame Augustin asks why there is a plane ticket if she is not going. The women look at Sophie and realize that Martine has sent for the child.
The gathering wanes and Monsieur Augustin walks Tante Atie and Sophie home. He tells Sophie this is good because a child belongs with her mother. Atie is upset because she had hoped to tell Sophie, not have his wife do it.
Monsieur Augustin bids them goodnight and goes across the street to his house. Sophie and Tante Atie watch him brush his wife’s hair and undress and slip into bed. One tear rolls down Atie’s cheek. She grasps Sophie and tells Sophie that she always wanted to read so she could look to the Bible to figure out what to do in difficult times.
Sophie is angry and yells at her aunt that she lied. Tante Atie sighs that she only kept a secret and did not lie. Martine sent her a cassette saying she wanted her daughter and then sent the plane ticket with a date on it. She thought she’d tell Sophie she was just going to send her in a week and Sophie would think it was just a visit.
Sophie sinks into their bed morosely. Tante Atie asks her not to tell anyone that she watches Donald Augustin and his wife get ready for bed and cries every time. Sophie secretly tucks the card under her aunt’s pillow.
Chapter 2
The next morning Tante Atie gives Sophie her passport. Sophie says nothing and eats her cinnamon rice pudding. Tante Atie is going to tell a story. She likes to tell stories all the time; most are sad but sometimes they are funny. It usually depends on how she tells it, and today she cannot bring laughter out of Sophie.
Tante Atie begins to say she has to tell Sophie things about her mother and Sophie interrupts to ask why Atie cannot come too. Atie says it is not the time and she is going to take care of her mother, Sophie’s grandmother. That is what is supposed to happen. Martine was only going to leave Sophie with Atie for a short time anyway.
Atie takes a breath and tells Sophie matter-of-factly that she loves her sister and she does not want Sophie to fight with her. Sophie was not abandoned; Atie had her. They are a family with dirt under their fingernails and they are not educated; the doors open for Sophie are because of her mother. She asks Sophie to promise not to fight with her. Sophie agrees.
Tante Atie touches Sophie’s collar and remarks that everything she owns is yellow—yellow like wildflowers and dandelions and daffodils, of course. Atie says Martine loved daffodils because they were European flowers that were not supposed to grow here but did.
Atie takes the Mother’s Day card out, which is unopened, and tells Sophie to give it to her mother.
Chapter 3
Before Sophie goes to New York, Atie wants her to get a blessing from Grandmè Ifé, so they travel the five hours in a rocky van. Atie and Sophie get out and walk on foot. They pass the thatched huts, the men in the cane fields, Man Grace’s farm, and finally arrive at Grandmé’s home. It is large because Martine had sent money home to improve it.
Tante Atie says that she has brought her child. Grandmè hugs Sophie tightly and tells her she will cook whatever she likes.
Grandmè wears a black dress to mourn grandfather. At night the huts on the hills look like candles. Atie brags of Sophie’s good grades. Sophie sleeps in a bed by herself. She knows she will have the nightmare where her mother takes her away.
Tante Atie and Sophie leave the next morning. Grandmè says it is good because she does not want to get to used to them and suffer an attack of chagrin. Atie says chagrin to Grandmè means a genuine physical disease. Sophie asks what it really means. Atie says it is something that kills you slowly because it takes a piece of you away every day. She tells Sophie about a group of people in Guinea who were the people of Creation and who the Maker gave them a piece of the sky to carry because they are strong. So, she says, if you have a lot of trouble it means you were chosen to carry part of the sky on your head.
Chapter 4
Tante Atie goes to work early every day and comes home late every night that week. Sophie attends school like normal. On Friday she cleans up all the twigs and leaves in the yard. Atie is pleased when she comes home.
Inside is a suitcase and Sophie realizes she will never to get to do the things in Haiti she likes anymore. Atie explains she worked more this week so she could get Sophie gifts for her trip. Tears start to form in Sophie’s eyes and Atie says they will not cry and will be as strong as mountains. She gives Sophie a saffron dress with a white collar and daffodils embroidered on it.
That night Sophie dreams of her mother, wrapped in yellow sheets with daffodils in her hair. She grabs Sophie and holds her and Sophie screams and cannot get free.
The next morning, Sophie takes a bath and dresses. Atie has prepared a special meal. She tells Sophie Martine was a wonderful sister and will make a real mother.
Even though Atie gives her back the card, Sophie recites the words that she’d written. They speak of daffodils.
Chabin pokes his head in their house and says they won the lottery. Atie smiles and says Martine brought her luck.
The taxi arrives and the neighbors come out to say goodbye. Atie and Sophie climb in, their faces to the sun like sunflowers. People are in the fields and many wave. Sophie wonders if she had a close friend whether their eyes would lock as she drove away. Red dust rises up and there are no daffodils.
Chapter 5
Sophie had never been to Port-au-Prince before. There are colorful boutiques and vans everywhere. Tante Atie gasps with her memories of coming here with Martine. The driver says they are almost there but the car slows to a stop. He explains that they are changing the name of the airport from Francois Duvalier to Mäis Gaté like it used to be. Atie is tense and says they have to be on time.
The sky is filled with sooty smoke; it may be a fire. Atie comments that the world might be ending.
Finally, they arrive at the airport gate. Army trucks surround a car in flames. Students stand on a hill, throwing rocks at the car, and the soldiers shoot back at them. Some students fall, and one woman grabs a soldier. He pushes her and she has blood on her face. Atie looks at Sophie and says this is what she is leaving. Sophie says she is leaving Atie.
The lobby is crowded. A woman comes up to them and asks if Sophie is Sophie Caco. She says they have to go now, and will take Sophie. Sophie and Atie say goodbye. Atie assures her she will not be lonely.
The woman pulls Sophie away and Sophie looks back to see her aunt. With her pink dress, brown sandals, and dusty feet it is clear she does not belong there.
The plane is nearly full and Sophie sits near a window. The woman comes back with a little boy. He is crying and struggling hysterically. The woman and another man hold him down and buckle him in. Finally, he sits still and weeps silently. The woman says his father died out there in the fire. He was some old corrupt government official guilty of crimes against the people. The boy has no relatives here and is going to his aunt in New York.
The plane departs. Sophie cannot see her aunt. She falls asleep and the boy does too.
Chapter 6
The woman shakes the children awake and leads them out the empty plane. The boy begins to cry and his relative rushes towards him, screaming that they’ve killed her brother.
Sophie sees her mother come forward. Martine thanks the woman and hands her money. Martine beams and kisses Sophie and asks her how she is and how her flight was. She looks tired and thin, with a hollow face and dark circles under her eyes. She leads Sophie to an old car with a cracked windshield and peeling paint. A spring sticks uncomfortably in Sophie’s leg.
It is night now and lights pop out everywhere. Martine asks Sophie many questions, such as whether Atie is going to school. Sophie says no. Martine sighs that Atie lost her nerve and fight; they were both going to be doctors but one day realized they had limits.
Martine drives down a darker street. Young men are on street corners, throwing cans at cars. Martine asks Sophie how Lotus, Madame Augustin is, and then muses that Atie was supposed to marry Monsieur but he chose Lotus instead.
There is writing all over the building and a homeless man sleeping. Martine unlocks the building door and tells Sophie that she will go to school and work hard because education is the only thing that matters.
Inside, Sophie sees the apartment is close and dark and full of books. Martine shows her a doll and brings Sophie to her room. Sophie sees a picture of herself in Tante Atie’s arms and realizes for the first time that she does not look like anyone in her family.
Martine says she knows it is strange a grown woman has a doll but explains this doll kept her company. She is now giving her to Sophie.
After a moment, Martine calls for Sophie to sit on her lap and Sophie assents. Martine asks if Sophie wants to go to bed and Sophie says yes. Martine tells her she will be right outside on the couch. Suddenly, Martine sees the card sticking out of Sophie's bag and opens it and reads it. She is so pleased at the mention of daffodils and knowing the daffodils are still there.
That night, Sophie has a hard time sleeping. She remembers Atie telling her stories when that happened. She hears her mother on the phone. Later that night, though, she hears her mother thrashing and crying and rushes in to wake her. Her mother shudders and says she sees horrible visions in her sleep but Sophie ought not to worry because they will pass. She holds Sophie tight for the rest of the night and tells her she will not leave her and they will get along together.
Sophie does not sleep. She looks into the mirror in the bathroom and sees a new, older face looking out at herself. She tells herself that she is in New York, that she must accept her new life and greet the challenge like a new day.
Chapter 7
The streets along Flatbush Avenue look like back home. Martine takes Sophie to Haiti Express and introduces Sophie to her friends proudly. She stops at a beauty shop and then a boutique to buy Sophie school clothes. She admonishes Sophie that she has to learn English right away or the American students will make fun of her.
Sophie is privately afraid to go to school but knows she has to. A woman selling cosmetics on the street says hello to Martine. The buildings are tall and the cars speed quickly. They stroll through the streets and hear music blaring from cars and children shouting curses. The overhead subway tracks rumble.
Martine walks up to a building in a quieter part of town labeled Marc Chevalier, Esq. Marc opens the door. He is Haitian and golden bronze. He introduces himself to Sophie politely and asks what they are up to.
After going back home and putting their purchases away, Marc takes Martine and Sophie out to a restaurant called Miracin’s in New Jersey that reputedly has the best Haitian food in America. The restaurant is busy and people are shouting conversations about politics and the Americans and crooks. Conversation and arguing are sports to Haitians, here as in the marketplace back home.
It takes a long time to get their food. Sophie is annoyed that the waiter keeps looking for a resemblance between her and her mother; she knows there is none.
Sophie watches her mother and Marc, noting that her mother has two lives—Marc in her present, Sophie a living memory in her past.
Marc asks Sophie what she wants to be when she grows up and she says a secretary. He tells her there are many more opportunities. Martine interjects that she is too young to know. Marc asks if she has a boyfriend and Martine also adds that she is too young and will not run wild like American girls.
Analysis
Breath, Eyes, Memory is a beautifully written but heartbreaking tale that encompasses the themes of sexual assault, memory, Haitian politics and culture, the relationships between women of different generations, forgiveness, and more. It spans about eight years and focuses on Sophie Caco, a young girl/woman trying to figure out who she is and how she can understand her family, her country, and her past. Danticat’s prose is lucid and luminous; she has nothing extraneous or theatrical. She tells her story in a spare, poetic fashion, weaving in Haitian religion, myths and stories, and dreamy imagery related to nature and the senses.
In this first section, Sophie grapples with having to leave her home of Haiti and live with her mother Martine, of whom she knows very little. Sophie is a deep, thoughtful, and quiet girl who is sometimes content to let other people make decisions for her (she is often told she will be a doctor and must spend a lot of time in school, when she really wants to be a secretary and does not like school at all). Critic Caroline Carvill notes that “the third-person limited narration gives Sophie’s often bewildered view of a world over which she feels like she has no control.” She has “ambiguous feelings about her identity [which] are apparent when she tries to give Atie a Mother’s Day card, which Atie insists she give to her mother instead—the mother who is only a voice on the tape recordings she sends regularly.” Sophie is certainly bewildered and beset upon, as well as capable of anger, bitterness, and regret; however, she also demonstrates resilience, as seen when she looks into the mirror her first morning in New York and decides to greet the challenge of her new life.
Sophie does not yet know about her mother’s tragic past, but her dreams while in Haiti indicate that she is at least psychically aware that their relationship will be problematic: “I sometimes saw my mother in my dreams. She would chase me through a field of wildflowers as tall as the sly. When she caught me she would try and squeeze me into the small frame so I could be in the picture with her. I would scream and scream until my voice gave out, then Tante Atie would come save me from her grasp” (8). Ultimately in New York, Sophie has to come to terms with the fact that she is an exile from Haiti, and that she is expected to build a relationship with a woman with whom she has a complicated, tenuous relationship. She must navigate the formation of her own identity when the most important female figure in her life, her mother, still has her own identity in flux.
Her most important relationships in Haiti are with her aunt and her grandmother, particularly the former, who raised her. Atie is a poor and uneducated woman who suffers from a heartbreak (Monsieur Augustin) and the general sense that her life is not her own (having to go take care of her own mother). As the book progresses she does learn to read, falls in love with another woman, and becomes more vocal about her feelings, but she is still circumscribed in many ways. Grandmè Ifé is a strong matriarch and the pillar of the Caco family, but she is in constant mourning for the death of her husband in the cane fields. She has to live with her daughter Martine’s trauma and self-imposed exile, Atie’s unhappiness, and the ramifications of her own choices on those she loves.
Many Haitian women (historically, as well as in Danticat’s novel) are prone to violence and misogyny, which result from patriarchy and a dictatorial political system that uses violence against women to prop up their ideal society. The Caco women navigate a world, Carvill writes, “controlled, and sometimes invaded, by men… While there are positive male characters presented, the effects of repression, stereotypes, and tradition take center stage.” This can be seen in the fact that many of the myths and stories Danticat weaves into Breath, Eyes, Memory concern women who are punished for not being chaste enough or asserting their independence. Martine, of course, is a victim of brutal rape, tonton macoutes leer at women in the market, and young girls’ purity is considered so culturally important that their own mothers “test” them. The testing is, in many ways, just as psychologically scarring as physical assault.
Danticat is interested in writing about sexual assault in Haiti not just to probe the personal but also to indicate larger realities within the world of the political. Critic Donette A. Francis explores how Danticat brings in the stories of poor, peasant, migrant, and laboring women into the narrative of the Haitian nation-state even though they are traditionally seen as outside of that narrative. She sees Danticat’s main theme as being “the dialectic between individual and state forms of violence…[and] how state and cultural institutions work, not only to enforce sexual violence but to conceal it.” Firstly, Danticat names her central family Caco, alluding not just to the bird and coffee beans, but also to the Cacos, Haitian peasant guerillas who revolted against U.S. Marines in 1915-1934. While these Cacos were homegrown heroes in that respect, they also raped their own women—the women they were supposed to protect. The name “Caco” thus implicates Haitians and Americans, the latter who often raped Haitian women as well. It references local resistance and how “sexual violations…. are made invisible through strategic acts of concealment” and “are not deserving of the state’s immediate attention and reprisal.”
Francis limns the history of the abuse of women in the 20th century, particularly under the Duvalier regimes and American occupation. She then turns to testing (which we will cover in later analyses) and to Martine’s rape. Rape is a crime against women that violates women’s rights to protection and due process, but Haitian political culture “systematically silences—through concealment, deferral, dismissal—women’s testimonies of sexual violations.” Martine never goes to the authorities, never even looks at the man who raped her. She “exhibits classic symptoms of post-traumatic tress disorder,” is practically forced to exile herself, and has “a persistent body memory.” She is completely subjected by this act; she is rendered voiceless and impotent (for example, she does not even tell Marc of her rape). She cannot bear her second pregnancy because she associates the child with the macoutes and “her nightmares reflect a fear of reproducing a violent misogynistic patriarchy that sits in judgment of her and finds her lacking.” Overall, Francis notes, “the society embodied by the Caco women is one in which at multiple levels—state, community, family—violence is subtly inscribed on women’s body and made invisible.”
