LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:2 February 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

Language in India www.languageinindia.com is included in the UGC Approved List of Journals. Serial Number 49042.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIALS

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2016
M. S. Thirumalai

Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
11249 Oregon Circle
Bloomington, MN 55438
USA
Custom Search

Love, Suffering, and Hope in Edwidge Danticat’s
“Children of the Sea”

Poornamathi Meenakshi and Dr. Sushil Mary Mathews


Edwidge Danticat
Courtesy: https://news.fiu.edu/2013/02/edwidge-danticat-to-talk-about-exiles-the-arts-feb-11/51413

Abstract

Edwidge Danticat was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 19, 1969. She is a Haitian-American diasporic writer who writes in English. Danticat’s first novel Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) had been selected by the Oprah Book Club in 1998. Her short story collection Kirk? Krak! published in 1995, became a National Book Award finalist.

The first story in the short story collection KK is “Children of the Sea”. In this story, Danticat vividly pictures the political violence in Haiti, which gained its independence from France in 1803. The aftermath of the political situation and the ruthless regimes threatened the very existence of humanity. Amidst the violence and suffering, Haitians continue to love and remain hopeful.

Haiti, widely popular for its poverty and repression, has an overlooked story of resistance. Haitians have played a remarkable role in shifting the correspondence of political and social power, even as they have endured distressing state-sponsored violence which includes torture, abuse, illegal arrest, disappearance, and assassination. Danticat, who is concerned with the plight of Haiti and Haitians, fuses the political with the personal in her stories and thereby she creates testimonials which aim to address the social injustice. This paper attempts to picture the unyielding spirits of the Haitians even in the face of unfathomable loss.

Keywords: Love, Political violence, Suffering, Hopeful.

Haitian Literature and Edwidge Danticat

Haitian literature has close ties with the socio-political and cultural life of Haiti. Haitian history which is marked by many revolutions, upheavals, atrocities, and injustices was also a rich source of inspiration for the writers. These writers assume the role of defenders of the nation and black race in general. The dominant and most influential figure in Haitian literature is Edwidge Danticat, born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 19, 1969. She is a Haitian-American diasporic writer who writes in English.

Danticat’s fascination for Haitian storytelling traditions is the reason behind her short story collection Kirk? Krak! (1995). In Haiti, Krik? is a request to tell a story, and the excited listeners reply Krak!. The collection contains nine stories and an epilogue. These stories revolve around Haitians who continue to remain strong and high spirited amidst the violence around them.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Poornamathi Meenakshi
Ph.D. Scholar
Department of English
PSGR Krishnammal College for Women
Coimbatore-641004
Tamil Nadu
India

Dr. Sushil Mary Mathews
Associate Professor of English
PSGR Krishnammal College for Women
Coimbatore-641004
Tamil Nadu
India
meenaarvinth@gmail.com

Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.