Violence In Danticat's The Farming Of Bones

In the face of colonialism, the oppressed and the oppressor seem to stand on opposite ends of the spectrum, and the oppressed party is often viewed as being only positively affected by colonization. However, in The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire challenges the more parochial view of the relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed, arguing that while the oppressed are beaten down by whatever system of oppression they were forced to participate in, the oppressors are affected as well. Freire poses a solution to domineering structures such as colonialism and their varied forms of violence—dialogue, which, paradoxically enough, can also be the cause. Danticat’s work of historical fiction The Farming of Bones bleeds with an overshadowing of violence on its pages—emotional, physical, and mental. While oppressed characters in The Farming of Bones fight for their lives during El Corte, the massacre over an eight-letter word that still haunts both islands today, the oppressors are also visibly affected by the violence. However, instead of Freire’s solution, many of the oppressors in the work remain silent rather than using his key to liberation—their voices. The works of both Danticat and Freire explore the relationship between the oppressor and the …show more content…
Dominicans are the oppressors in The Farming of the Bones—they marginalize the Haitians, pushing them to the outskirts of society when they are still apart of Haitian identity, both in culture and familial lines. However, the Dominicans are threatened by the Haitians, and Haitian presence always makes them uneasy: “They once came here only to cut sugarcane, but now there are more of them than there will ever be cane to cut, you understand?” (Danticat,