Edwidge Danticat on Memory and Language

An amazing recount of her family past and present, with her memories being what the reader sees even though a lot of what she remembers is from what her family members that can’t speak for themselves anymore have told her. She starts with the present, or what is considered the present in the book. Introducing her Haitian family the only way she can, by describing the experiences they face day to day.
The doctor the beginning who tells her that her father is going to die, without even thinking about how her father will feel about his daughter knowing. This depicts the lack of attention her father can receive do to his economic status and being an illegal immigrant in the United States. The doctor, almost casually tells her that he is not getting better and will never get better.
Memory is important to her, and she describes two different types of her memory that she is recounting as she writes this novel: Her own, and what she remembers her family members telling her about her past and their own. Many times she will tell the reader before she finishes a story that the person couldn’t remember a certain event, but they can remember a fine detail like when her father tells her about when “Papa Doc” went into office and he saw his brother crying but can’t remember what he was doing. This lapse in memory can either be looked at as doubtful recollection or a loving memory that a brother has for his pained sibling.
She speaks a lot about understanding Language. She is a writer so her close bonds with her father through his letters when she is a child come at no surprise. However the detail she writes in makes the reader feel the bond she felt as she studied her father’s lettering and modest phrases and wording. The way she can tell what a person’s feeling by imagining the contexts in which they are trying to speak. Language barriers such as her Uncle’s inability to speak and her mother’s use of their old Creole language are also predominant features that show up in her writing. The need to understand and the ability to decipher the literal meaning of words encoded in vague writing and hand gestures shows her point that words don’t always get a point across, that one must feel what that person is feeling and see what they see in order to completely understand what is gong on.