The Dew Breaker

This week’s post is based on the chapters The Book of the Dead & Seven from Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker.

What are the precise strategies that are used by its creator to convey the world to us and us to the world?

Both of these chapters are similar in the way they present their world to us. They both give long and distinct descriptions of what is going on in their world, which lets us, the reader, become a part of the story as well. It’s almost as if the creator, Edwidge Danticat, wants the reader to see what is going on through the eyes of the characters already living in the world. Because we are able to read the personal thoughts of the characters, we are able to feel what they feel, and in turn are placed deeper into their world. The way we are conveyed to the world is how the creator translates the Creole language into English so that we can understand it. It’s as if the creator wants his characters to feel comfortable with us so he allows them to speak the language they feel most comfortable with, yet he also wants us to feel comfortable in that world as well so he translates it for us.

In The Book of the Dead, we are immediately placed in a serious setting with the main character, Ka, talking to a police officer named Bo, and a hotel manager named Flavio Salinas about her missing family. There is no hesitation to introduce us to the world, because Ka instantly describes her surroundings in acute detail. She talks about the “striking pair of chartreuse eyes” and the “island Spanish lilt in his voice” of Manager Salinas, along with the “baby-faced, short, white Floridian with a potbelly” of Officer Bo.  She then goes on to describe the “gaudy” look of Manager Salinas’ office, which is decorated with “orange-and-green wallpaper” and a “giant gold leaf-bordered print of a Victorian cottage”. Ka’s detailed descriptions allows her world to be brought to life, and it lets the reader imagine themselves sitting right next to her in the same room. The beginning of this chapter sets the mood for the rest of the story to develop and conveys the overall tone of the world we are presented. Despite the fact that they were in what is known as The Sunshine State and their journey was supposed to good and have a much happier ending, the circumstances and overall feelings of the characters ultimately turned their happy world upside down, and the sensory descriptors perfectly conveyed this to us.

In Seven, it was a similar mood and feeling to the previous chapter, The Book of the Dead, which helped connect the two stories and tie both of their worlds together. However, unlike The Book of the Dead, we never really got to connect to the main characters on a deeper level because we never were told their names. This made their world slightly more distant and less interactive for us looking in. Although the detail of their names was never mentioned, the description of the surroundings still allowed for the creator to convey that world to the reader. Similar to the way The Book of the Dead was started out to be happy, Seven started out with a happy mood as well, with the long awaited reconnection of the married couple. However, as the story develops, and all the time spent away from each other is realized with the emotional disconnect, we start to feel the sadness and empathy develop, which is perfectly conveyed to us through the silence of their world.