https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3 An analysis of Edwidge Danticat's Nineteen Thirty-Seven en-us 2018-09-12 16:16:43 UTC 2018-10-08 17:46:40 UTC hello@padlet.com kimbruns https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/282867791 Nineteen Thirty-Seven is fiction story about a young female, Josephine, from Ville Rose. The story introduces Josephine sitting in a chair, rocking back and forth, with a doll on her lap that she inherited from her mother. This doll is referred to as “Madonna”. When the Madonna releases a tear from its porcelain face, Josephine interprets this as the possibility of her mother’s passing. Josephine’s mother was sentenced to life in prison after being charged with dabbling in the occult. As she prepares to visit her mother in prison, Josephine is stopped by a woman. The woman asks to see the doll she is carrying. The woman produces conversation between the two, assuming that Josephine is on her way to visit an inmate and offers to shower her a place where she can buy food. Once Josephine arrives at the prison, she quickly realizes her mother is skinnier than the last time and her skin is hanging from her bones. The prison guards believe she is involved with witchcraft. Her remains will be burned following her death, to prevent her soul from entering the body of another individual. When Josephine prepares to leave and tries to hug her mother goodbye, her mother pushes her away – telling her to visit soon. The next few visits are short, and Josephine notices her mother has developed a cough. She grows more and more sick, becoming delirious. Josephine learns of her mother’s death, and from other inmates she learns that she was beaten to death by the prison guards because they could not cure her illness. Josephine stays, to watch her mother’s remains burn.

Danticat, Edwidge. "Nineteen Thirty-Seven." Krik? Krak! New York: Vintage, 1996. ]]> 2018-09-18 13:11:27 UTC https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/282867791 kimbruns https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/282868867 One of the eight critical lens is the psychological lens. This lens looks at the patterns in human behavior. While formative history is different in particulars, there are basic recurrent patterns of development for most individuals (Von Stebuen). This critical endeavor seeks evidence of unresolved emotions, guilts, ambivalences, and psychological conflicts. The author’s own childhood traumas, family life, sexual conflicts, fixations, will be traceable within the behavior of the characters in the literary work. Psychological material is often expressed indirectly or encoded through principles such a displacement, symbolism and condensation. Through this lens, the reader will be able to identify hidden meaning behind the author's writing, thus giving more insight as to why certain characters act the way they do, what moral or ethical choices were made, and explore the range of human emotions.

"Eight Critical Lens Through Which Readers Can View Texts," Von Stebuen]]> 2018-09-18 13:13:06 UTC https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/282868867 kimbruns https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/282879586
"I wanted to raise the voice of a lot of the people I knew growing up, and this was, for the most part, poor people who had extraordinary dreams.. but also very amazing obstacles." ~ Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge was born, and for the most part, raised, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She immigrated to the United States (Brooklyn) in 1981, rejoining her parents after a decade. Edwidge is the daughter of a cab driver, Andre Miracin, and a textile worker, Rose Souvenance (Noteable Biographies). She is a well-known Haitian American author, whose work focuses largely on the lives of women and their relationships, power, injustice, and poverty (Britannica).

"Edwidge Danticat Biography", Noteable Biographies
"Edwidge Danticat: Haitian American Author", Britannica]]> 2018-09-18 13:27:11 UTC https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/282879586 kimbruns https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/283460561 Josephine is thrilled to see her mother, but that emotion is not returned from what is described in the literature. Her mother seems more excited to see the Madonna. Mother handles it with care, and asks the Madonna if she has cried as she begins to weep. Josephine is unable to verbally communicate with her mother. This allows the readers to assume most of their visits together often go without an exchange of words. 

Using the psychological lens, I was able to conclude that this oppressed nature creates an artificial sense of hope for a life of suffering for Haitian women. In addition, the quotes emphasize the repetitive occurrence of yet different pain Haitian women, in particular, experience.

This is seen when, “We were saved from the tomb of this river when she was still in my womb. You spared us both, her and me, from this river where I lost my mother" is said (Danticat, page forty). Josephine was born on the day of the massacre by El Generalissimo’s soldiers, resulting in the deaths of many Haitians. Her birth could be interpreted as a representation of being birthed from pain. Not only does Josephine emanate from suffering, she also carries the connotation of false hope, as life cannot be replaced. The effect of suffering is seen a second time when the words, “Keep the Madonna when I am gone. Maybe you will have some flesh to console you, but if you don’t, you will always have the Madonna” are said (Danticat, page forty-three). Given that pain surrounds Josephine's life, her mother hopes that she can cope with her suffering in the same way she did. 

Danticat, Edwidge. "Nineteen Thirty-Seven." Krik? Krak! New York: Vintage, 1996. ]]> 2018-09-19 14:45:49 UTC https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/283460561 kimbruns https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/284590822 "I think novels just really show us the deepest parts of people's hearts, and you cannot walk away anymore and say, "I don't know." ~ Edwidge Danticat]]> 2018-09-22 03:49:00 UTC https://padlet.com/kimbruns/9goawqc5yxi3/wish/284590822