"Between the Pool and the Gardenias"
Between the Pool and the Gardenias
The sad, shocking story, "Between the Pool and the Gardenias" by Edwidge Danicat shows how past experiences can effect the actions we take in the future. The main character, Marie, lets her experiences with loneliness, many miscarriages and bad relationships contribute to her decision to take a dead baby off a street corner and bring it into her life.
Marie is very lonely. She has no one in her life, not even a family. Besides her husband, everyone in her family is dead. Her mother's death is not explained but the reader knows that she is dead because Marie says that even though there is a distance of death between her and her mother, she still comes to visit. Her Great Grandmother, Eveline, was killed by a Dominican solider, her grandmother Defile died in prison and her godmother committed suicide. She has no close family to talk to or even to love.
Besides Marie's tragic family life, she also had to deal with her emotions being used and abused by two people. The first person was her husband, who cheated on her many times while she was grieving over the many miscarriages she had. Her miscarriages affected her greatly causing her much suffering over the years. Marie left her village due to all these painful emotions. The second person who used her was a Dominican man she had met. Marie states, "The Dominican and I made love on the grass once, but he never spoke to me again" (Danticat 96). At the end of the story, Marie encounters the Dominican again when she is burying the baby in the garden. He accuses her of killing the baby and gets her in trouble with the law. The fact that Marie was abused emotionally in both situations partly explains why she held onto the baby for so long. She felt she needed something permanent in her life.
When Marie took in the baby off the street corner, she felt as though her greatest desire was finally being fulfilled. She called out all the names she was going to name her children if she hadn't
The sad, shocking story, "Between the Pool and the Gardenias" by Edwidge Danicat shows how past experiences can effect the actions we take in the future. The main character, Marie, lets her experiences with loneliness, many miscarriages and bad relationships contribute to her decision to take a dead baby off a street corner and bring it into her life.
Marie is very lonely. She has no one in her life, not even a family. Besides her husband, everyone in her family is dead. Her mother's death is not explained but the reader knows that she is dead because Marie says that even though there is a distance of death between her and her mother, she still comes to visit. Her Great Grandmother, Eveline, was killed by a Dominican solider, her grandmother Defile died in prison and her godmother committed suicide. She has no close family to talk to or even to love.
Besides Marie's tragic family life, she also had to deal with her emotions being used and abused by two people. The first person was her husband, who cheated on her many times while she was grieving over the many miscarriages she had. Her miscarriages affected her greatly causing her much suffering over the years. Marie left her village due to all these painful emotions. The second person who used her was a Dominican man she had met. Marie states, "The Dominican and I made love on the grass once, but he never spoke to me again" (Danticat 96). At the end of the story, Marie encounters the Dominican again when she is burying the baby in the garden. He accuses her of killing the baby and gets her in trouble with the law. The fact that Marie was abused emotionally in both situations partly explains why she held onto the baby for so long. She felt she needed something permanent in her life.
When Marie took in the baby off the street corner, she felt as though her greatest desire was finally being fulfilled. She called out all the names she was going to name her children if she hadn't