Another example of the kidnapped woman using fairytales as a tool for survival is when she compares her imprisonment to that of Cinderella. She pleads, “At least Cinderella had her work to keep her busy – the familiarity of sweeping floors and washing windows and cooking the daily bread. If nothing else, because she had truly suffered she could appreciate her ever after” (p. 37). Knowing the Cinderella story gives the kidnapped woman perspective on her situation. She does not have daily tasks to keep her busy like Cinderella did, but knowing that Cinderella eventually escapes imprisonment helps her endure this hardship. She knows that, in order to appreciate her “ever after,” she must make amends with her suffering and keep her mind busy until
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Krak! is another text where Haitian characters must utilize a specific tool in order to survive. In the story “Night Women,” a young mother struggles with her son knowing the truth about what she does at night time. She wants to provide for her son, but knows that her secret can only last as long as has his ignorance does. The mechanism that she uses to endure this situation is the delusion of angels. She has built this fantasy knowing that there will be a day when she has to explain everything to her son. “One day, he will grow too old to be told that a wandering man is a mirage and that naked flesh is a dream. I will tell him that his father has come, that an angel brought him back from Heaven for a while” (p. 88). She certainly isn’t too keen on this day coming. She knows that she has built a fallacy surrounding the men that she brings home at night, and she is reluctant to let her son know that they are anything less than angels.
In her paper “Défilée Diasporic Daughters: Revolutionary Narratives of Ayiti (Haiti), Nanchon (Nation), and Dyaspora (Diaspora) in Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak!,” Jana Evans Braziel critiques the maternity struggles that many Haitian women face. She claims that many Haitian mothers struggle with raising a child, and thus engage in “maternal
Krak! is another text where Haitian characters must utilize a specific tool in order to survive. In the story “Night Women,” a young mother struggles with her son knowing the truth about what she does at night time. She wants to provide for her son, but knows that her secret can only last as long as has his ignorance does. The mechanism that she uses to endure this situation is the delusion of angels. She has built this fantasy knowing that there will be a day when she has to explain everything to her son. “One day, he will grow too old to be told that a wandering man is a mirage and that naked flesh is a dream. I will tell him that his father has come, that an angel brought him back from Heaven for a while” (p. 88). She certainly isn’t too keen on this day coming. She knows that she has built a fallacy surrounding the men that she brings home at night, and she is reluctant to let her son know that they are anything less than angels.
In her paper “Défilée Diasporic Daughters: Revolutionary Narratives of Ayiti (Haiti), Nanchon (Nation), and Dyaspora (Diaspora) in Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak!,” Jana Evans Braziel critiques the maternity struggles that many Haitian women face. She claims that many Haitian mothers struggle with raising a child, and thus engage in “maternal