The Dew Breaker is a novel is categorized as a novel, but in reality it is a collection of interconnected, but independent short stories that all combine together to tell a coherent story. The difference is not merely one of literary construction, but of thematic continuity. The coherent story connected by the short stories is one which tells of the effects and consequences of life under a totalitarian regime. In this case, the despotic evil of the Duvalier reign of terror in Haiti.
The breakdown of the novel into a series of individual is an example of form matching content in the way that novel portrays how living under such conditions impact an entire population in various ways over a long stretch of years. The dirty stinking underbelly of truth lying firmly ensconced within the cold dark heart of life in a country that is essentially the playground of a single psychotic individual is that one can really never know exactly where they stand in relation to anybody else. The grime of corruption does not wash away at the end of the driveway to the tyrant’s palace. Corruption spreads throughout the land for various reasons. Some are drawn into the web because they, too, are just as evil as a guy like Duvalier.
Others are simply mercenary: they go where the money is. But there are plenty of people living under such conditions who do things that are every bit as shameful as the evil ones, but cannot even be blamed as much as those doing it for money because they are doing it simply to survive. Life under tyranny is a fractured, fragmented existence that is nowhere near as easy to explain and define as one might think. That prismatic society is reflected in the decision to remove the easy facilitation of one chapter seamlessly blending into the next as would occur in a more traditionally constructed novel.
What is especially notable is how much of the story of those forced to live under these conditions in Haiti takes place in America. The opening story takes place in Lakeland, Florida. The narrative then moves northward to New York City. Equally non-linear is the timing element of setting: “Monkey Tails” is set in the 80’s, “The Funeral Singer” in the 70’s and the final title story of the collection returns to the time and place in which is all started, the 60’s. As with any story that covers such a wide of expanse of geography and time, long-held secrets come to light, motivations for seemingly inexplicable actions are revealed and smaller pieces of a larger puzzle are discovered and put into place.
The twist to this matching of form to content lies in the revelations of that title story. While “The Dew Breaker” serves to answer many of the questions which are raised by the rest of The Dew Breaker, those answers likely fail to reconcile everything to everyone’s satisfaction. Redemption? Sure, that is achieved. But the final thematic punctuation mark seems to be that not everything can be reconciled merely by finding answers and filling in gaps.
