The Dew Breaker-Blog 2
November 13th, 2006 Nosheen
My favorite of all the stories has to be the title story “The Dew Breaker”, where Danticat attempts to connect the pieces from the other stories. When I first started reading the novel, I speculated that all the stories were actually about Ka and her family. I can now say that I have been successful in figuring out some of the connections. One of the major themes that we discussed in class and was mentioned on a few of our previous blogs was “hidden pasts” or “secrets”. The last section of “The Dew Breaker” reveals that Ka’s fathers last prisoner and Anne’s stepbrother were actually the same person. Anne and her husband understand that her brother was killed by him but she neglects the mention of the issue. They continued their lives with describing his “last prisoner” and “my stepbrother” as two different people.
“He referring to his “last prisoner,” the one that scarred his face, and she to my “my stepbrother, the famous preacher,” neither of them venturing beyond those coded utterances, dreading the day when someone other than themselves would more fully convene the two halves of this same person.” And the person who discovered that the “last prisoner” and “my stepbrother” was Ka. Immediately upon learning of the secret Ka questions her mother regarding her love for her father. Anne and her husband understand that it wasn’t actually love, it was a relationship that was merely based on the need of survival. Anne was a alone after her brothers arrest and Ka’s father had just killed a man and they both needed each other support. Therefore, Anne and her husband decided to get married and forget the prisoner and her stepbrother. Anne agreed that the preacher killed himself and continued to live her life.
Danticat appears to be indicating that the vulnerability of the characters lead them to make their decisions regardless of the fact that Anne’s stepbrother was actually killed by her own husband. Danticat also shows similar personalities of the characters in “Seven”. Even though each character has had a secret life before their reunion, they refuse to mention it to each other and continue to lives together. I think that Danticat is attempting to demonstrate that sometimes relationships can be formed due to incorrect reasons. Anne and her husband are drawn to each other because of their vulnerability regardless of their relationship to the preacher. Anne and Eric and his wife get married because Eric falls in love with her at first sight. She decides to marry him even though she is in love with someone else. I think Danticat blends the stories were efficiently and tries to provide a portrait of the many characteristics of humans. She might also be indicating that people from different boundaries have many commonalities such as “hidden pasts” and “secrets”.
Entry Filed under: Reflections
