Haitian-Americans: The Real Story

After finishing The Dew Breaker, I felt a little bit abandoned by Danticat. It wasn't that the ending wasn't satisfying or that I wanted something else to happen -- I think she left me wanting more because I knew the book was based around the very real experience of immigrating from Haiti to the United States. While Ka and the other characters in the book seemed very real to me, I still couldn't help but wonder if their experience was typical.

At the African-American Migration Experience website, the links to "The Haitian Soul: Religion and Culture" and "Family Life and the Second Generation" really broadened my understanding of both Anne and Ka, the mother and daughter in the book. While Anne is the only spiritual character in The Dew Breaker, "The Haitian Soul" emphasized the widespread devout Christianity practiced by Haitian-Americans. I was shocked when i read that "nearly 75% of recent immigrants to South Florida attend church at least once a week." This fact emphasized Anne's sense of isolation from her family to me. Ka and her father truly diverged from expected behavior in their community, undoubtedly leaving Anne wanting more from her family experience.

Anne always makes Ka seem like a typical American teenager, saying she is "chanting from what [her] mother used to call the meaningless adolescent chorus, just to sound like everyone else [her] age" (Danticat 21). However, the "Family Life" section on the AAME website challenged Anne's accusations. The website stated that second generation teenagers are "likely to have conflicts with their parents over attempts to Americanize," making Ka's language normal. However, the website also provided a typical example of Phede, a Haitian-American boy who struggles so extensively with balancing his Haitian and American sides that he ends up committing suicide. Like Phede, Ka goes through the American public school system. However, much unlike him, she emerges as a strong young woman with solid opinions. She discovers her passion for art and uses it to express her Haitian roots, creating a healthy balance in her cultural duality. With a greater understanding of the issues faced by young Haitian-Americans, I have much more respect for her as a character.