Summary Of Danticat's Nineteen-Thirty Seven

Newer generations of families often wipe clean the slate of misfortune. Danticat, in the chapter, “Nineteen-Thirty Seven”, writes of a girl named Josephine. Her mother had been in a group of women, whose generation had crossed over the river separating the Dominican Republic from Haiti, to escape the reign of General Trujillo. Her mother, after being imprisoned for many years, dies, and she goes with another woman from her mother’s group to see the prison guards burn her body. Josephine, at the end of the chapter, says, “Let her flight be joyful… and mine and yours too” (Nineteen-Thirty Seven, 42). In saying this, Josephine is trying to have hope in herself, even though her mother is dead. Josephine is the new generation, and she must find
strength within herself to march forward. In another chapter, titled, “The Missing Peace”, a woman named Emilie and a young girl named Lamort are paired to display the idea of ‘posterity’. Emilie travels to Haiti to learn the whereabouts of her late mother, and eventually meets Lamort, who lost her mother at birth. From the text: “My mother’s name was Isabelle… keep this for posterity” (The Missing Peace, 104). The word, posterity, is defined as, ‘all future generations of people’. Emilie, in telling Lamort her mother’s name, believes that she as the younger generation will fight in place of their mothers who could not, and even where she could not. Even those who fled their battles within Haiti, entrusted in their predecessors.
In the chapter, “Children of the Sea”, an unnamed young man flees the country after being labelled wanted for defying the regime. He was the host of a radio show group that was created to speak out against the oppressive government. Eventually, his radio show was shut down, and he fled Haiti in fear of his life, leaving an unidentified female behind. The two wrote each other back and forth, despite never actually receiving the letters. The boy, in one of his letters, says, “I hope another group of young people can do the radio show” (Children of the Sea, 6). The boy, in leaving Haiti, is hopeful that another generation after him will run his abandoned show. He knows that he made a difference, and he hopes that others will want to uphold it. Likewise, in the story, “A Wall of Fire Rising”, a man named Guy sparks a hope within his son through his suicide. The chapter tells of Guy’s impoverished family, and how his son, Little Guy, was cast in his school’s play as Boukman; hero of freedom. Guy worked for a family of Haitian Arabs who owned a hot air balloon, which, in the end of the chapter, he flies and jumps out of. He falls to his death, and Little Guy responds with a line from his play: “I call on our young. I call on our old… so that we shall let out one piercing cry that we may either live freely or we should die” (A Wall of Fire Rising, 66). Little Guy, in quoting this line, calls on not
only the new generation, but those of older generations, to fight and remain hopeful. Where his father could not have hope, he has come forth to carry on for him. In Krik? Krak!, strength is laced through all of the generations. In the epilogue, titled, “Women Like Us”, Danticat writes through the perspective of a female writer facing opposition within her own family. The girl, who aspires to be a writer, is shot down several times by her mother, who tells her that women who write are of no worth. However, in her writing, she states, “Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, fear no evil for we are with you” (Women Like Us, 194). This line, although intense, is intended to communicate that even in the opposition of her mother, those who came before her stand with her in her dream. She, as the new generation, has the support and strength from those who preceded her. Furthermore, in the story, “The Missing Peace”, Emilie communicates to Lamort that when a girl loses her mother, she is no longer a girl -- rather, she is a woman. She preaches this to show Lamort that she, in losing her mother at birth, was born a woman (The Missing Peace, 99). Emilie passes on her hope to Lamort this way. She is telling her that, although motherless, she must still remain brave, and speak out against those who oppose her. Edwige Danticat, through the motif of generations, has presented the idea of hope and resilience. Throughout the entire novel, in both the new and old generations, the people of Haiti remain strong-willed. They carry on, no matter how hard the struggle may be.They push forward, stopped by not even death itself.