False Hope In Danticat's Krik? Krak

In the novel Krik? Krak! written by Danticat, the oppressed people can be seen believing in false hope. Danticat shows the importance of believing in a better life, family, and a fictitious reality when building a false hope the oppressed people will believe in. Danticat also tells us about the stress put onto the false hope when one of the aspects are lost. “Children of the sea” is one chapter of many with the theme of a false hope. False hope is used as a “weapon” against the oppressed people of Haiti. When the people heard the old president was coming back, the people gained a sense of hope and went to the airport in order to see if it was true. The female protagonist of this chapter writes in a letter to the male protagonist “There is a rumor that the old president is coming back” (page 16) and shows the false hope of the people when she later writes “Of course the old president didn’t come. They arrested a lot of people at the airport, shot a whole bunch
The male protagonist, Guy, has always had the dream of a better life. Through the idea of flying, he feels as though he will get a sense of freedom from the cruel, oppressive life he lives in. Guy tells his wife “I’d like to said off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place…” (page 61). Guy’s hope for a better life for his family and for himself is what kept him going in life. Guy soon decides to take a ride in the air balloon by himself, and after realising that flying will not get him the hope he so long desired for, he jumps out of the air balloon. The boy saw his father up in the balloon thinking “...if his father was really trying to jump out of the balloon” (page 65). The place the male protagonist yearns for can be seen as heaven. He wants to live in a place of freedom, and this scene shows how much stress can be put onto a false hope when the belief in a better life, one of the aspects, is