https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b en-us 2018-09-21 23:43:46 UTC 2025-12-08 13:19:41 UTC hello@padlet.com michaelphamlive https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284578093  Through a Psychological Lens

When we use a Psychological Lens we are asked to look for text patterns that represent human behavior. We can think of things like ethics, morals, behavior, and emotions to validate the piece of literature to see if it is good or not. This also is a great lens to understand literature from a different perspective.

The short story "Night Women" from Edwidge Danticat's "Krik? Krak!" I use all the factors of the Psychological Lens I mentioned above while reading and analyzing this short story.

Abrams, M.H. "Psychological and Psychoanalytic Criticism." A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. 247-253.

]]> 2018-09-21 23:58:13 UTC https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284578093 michaelphamlive https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284579985 In the short story, we can see there is a lot of emotions running through as we read the story. It starts off very subtle with a mother explaining how her son sleeps through the texts like "He shifts his small body carefully so as not to crease his Sunday Clothes" (p.103). We later find out that that isn't living in the best living conditions as we can see in the texts "He Always slaps the mosquitoes dead on his face without even walking. In the morning, he will have tiny blood spots on his forehead". (p.103) 

At first, we might wonder why she is so careful and cautious with her son. Later on, we find out that the mother works as a prostitute and that sometimes she does her work int he same house as her son sleeps. There are times were her client gives earplugs to her son so he can sleep while they work.

She explains a lot about the feeling of what happens to her while she works. The guilt, suffering and the embarrassment of her work but was we know she has to do what she has to do in order to survive and provide for her son. The details show a lot of emotions which I will talk about next. 

Dandicat, Edwidge "Night Women", Krit? Krat!, 1995]]> 2018-09-22 00:33:28 UTC https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284579985 michaelphamlive https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284580690 The emotions seen in this are very strong. It gives us a sense of how powerful the story despite it being only fourteen pages. The first thing is she is very powerful emotionally. I couldn't imagine dealing with what she has to deal with. It's obvious she does what she does in order to survive and provide just like anyone else. But the way she explains her job as a prostitute through the text really shows a firsthand experience of what specifically she actually goes through. For example the text "He throbs and pants. "I cover his mouth to keep him from screaming. I see his wife's face in the beads of seat marching down his chin" p.108. You can see their so much going on there we see that there is adultery happening and prostitution at the same time.

We can really feel the suffering that she has to go through but also the suffering of the client's wife that we do not know of.

Dandicat, Edwidge "Night Women", Krit? Krat!, 1995]]> 2018-09-22 00:45:44 UTC https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284580690 michaelphamlive https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284581436 There's so much guilt that can be felt through all of this. Her son is getting older as she stated in the beginning so you can only imagine that he somewhat knows what is going on. She smokes a tobacco leaf by herself at the and end and it seems like she reflects on everything totally and we can feel the guilt she might have knowing that her son was always there. ]]> 2018-09-22 00:59:05 UTC https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284581436 michaelphamlive https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284581648 This is something we that we have to think of strongly with the sense that
this is all for survival. She does want to do this as a living it's obvious through how she explains her work that this isn't a side hustle this is a means of life. A lot of people in her country might see this as something punishable or that she is ruining families and relationships. But know her conditions that she is in with the war happening. It's hard to judge her for what she does. 

]]> 2018-09-22 01:02:38 UTC https://padlet.com/michaelphamlive/5hwor3a5hc2b/wish/284581648