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Book Review: Breath, Eyes, MemoryThe handing down of hurt from mother to daughter
A family tradition passed from mother to daughter leads to self-destruction and then freedom for the next generation of womanhood.
“Are you free, my daughter?” This is the question posed to Sophie Cacu Woods after the burial of her mother, Martine, in their homeland of Haiti. Both mother and daughter have been harmed by abuse that is female-centered and generational in nature: Martine, a survivor of rape and Sophie, a victim of her family’s tradition of virginity testing. A Girl Learns Where She Comes FromBreath, Eyes, Memory, Edwidge Danticat’s debut novel, was published in 1994 by Soho Press. Sophie’s story parallels the author’s in that both were cared for by an aunt until twelve-years-old when each immigrated to New York. While Danticat had two parents and siblings, Sophie has only her mother. Martine works two jobs so that she can send money home to her family. Sophie enters her mother’s poor life overwhelmed by the new country and puzzled by the mother she has known only through pictures and stories her aunt has told her since she was an infant. One of the first full conversations Sophie has with her mother is about “testing”: “When I was a girl, my mother used to test us to see if we were virgins. She would put her finger in our very private parts and see if it would go inside.” It is also during this conversation that Sophie learns she is the product of rape. Martine’s off and on night terrors resume with Sophie’s arrival. Over time the trauma of the rape and testing lead to the breakdown of Sophie and Martine’s relationship. When Sophie finally “fails” the test, the women separate pursuing lives that include marriage and motherhood, sexual dysfunction and bulimia, sexual submission and the use of chemicals to fade the mark of an African background. The Practice Stripped DownDanticat’s handling of virginity testing in relation to rape and family tradition goes beyond the immediate impact of the practice. This tradition is followed in several countries including South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Turkey. A resurgence of the practice has come about due to the wide spread of HIV/AIDS, both as a means of preventing the disease and a way to fulfill the belief that a cure can be found in the purity of a virgin. The book shows the long-term effects of the act: Sophie causes herself physical harm to escape the testing when she realizes her mother will not stop until she fails. Martine’s sister, Atie, also suffers a life without male companionship and bouts of depression as a result of testing and family obligation. Growing Through the PainThe Cacu women are powerful; they embody the strength and frailties of womanhood. Family and tradition are held in high regard, complete with the guilt that accompanies both. The women Danticat created are also dynamic in their ability to recognize the faultiness of the road each has chosen to follow. Martine, especially, suffers from her past, but shows a willingness to accept change when she takes it upon herself to go after Sophie and her infant daughter when she runs to Haiti to escape her painful wifely duties. Martine responds to her daughter’s anger directly: “I did it…because my mother had done it to me. I have no greater excuse. I realize standing here that the two greatest pains of my life are very much related. The one good thing about my being raped was that it made the testing stop. The testing and the rape. I live both every day.” With that, Sophie is left to make a promise to her own daughter not to repeat the cycle. In Breath, Eyes, Memory, Danticat lays open wounds out in the air with the promise of slow healing.
The copyright of the article Book Review: Breath, Eyes, Memory in Modern American Fiction is owned by M. B. Levine. Permission to republish Book Review: Breath, Eyes, Memory in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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