The Thorns of Change: The Role of Ville Rose in Krik? Krak! Eric Luo 9th Grade

Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat is a collection of short stories about Haitians in various circumstances, from being miserable due to extreme poverty to being forced into exile by a dictatorship. The fictional town of Ville Rose is the location of most of the stories, connecting stories that have almost no relation to each other except the occasional mention of characters. Danticat uses Ville Rose to represent the idea of change. Through this symbolism, Danticat shows that pain is a necessary part of change, but will lead to improvement.

In the first story, “Children of the Sea,” the female narrator undergoes significant change, not only emotionally, but also physically escaping to Ville Rose with her family. They plan to run away from the capital city of Port-au-Prince, where bands of macoutes do whatever they want to people, like raping and killing. The female narrator and her parents hear the macoutes beat her neighbor Madan Roger to death: you can hear madan roger screaming. they are beating her, pounding on her until you don’t hear anything else. manman tells papa, you cannot let them kill somebody just because you are afraid. papa says oh, yes, you can let them kill somebody because you are afraid. they are the law. it is...