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BREATH, EYES, MEMORYITIONAL NOTES
Please note that the information given on this novel is not meant to replace any material given in the classroom. The opinions expressed in this article represents the opinions of one individual, and opinions vary.
Characterization
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SOPHIE CACO
The reader first meets Sophie when she is a little girl, in Haiti, then travels to New York with her, where we witness her growth and maturity, through her experiences there. Our journey with her then ends in Haiti, where we are given a picture of the adult Sophie, in her homeland. Loyalty Loyalty is one of the very first traits that we see in Sophie. The young Sophie makes a card for her Tante Attie, the only mother that she knows. This simple card is a symbol of love and the beautiful relationship that is possible in families. Tante Attie did not have to take care of her sister's child, but she did, and Sophie did not have to show appreciation for this sacrifice, but she did. The fact that she also did not want to leave Tante Attie also tells us that she is loyal. At that point, Tante Attie was the only mother (www.bulbsoup.com) that she knew, so her loyalty is instinctual. She further earns this trait when she allows her mother back into her life, after the trauma of her testing. She initially shunned her mother, but she tried to develop a relationship with her afterwards, despite her mother's act of betrayal. This shows that she loves her mother, despite the tumultuous and traumatic experiences that she has under her roof. The love that she has for her mother engenders the loyalty that she exhibits. Fragile ... yet Strong Sophie can be considered to be both fragile, yet strong. Her fragility derives from her traumatic experiences, but her strength is highlighted through her reactions to these same experiences. These experiences begin on the very first night in her mother's home. Her mother has a terrible nightmare that has her screaming in the night. It is implied that Sophie endures this for the duration of her stay with her mother, which could not have been easy to endure. The second traumatic experience is when Sophie is tested by her mother. This is a very invasive technique that allows the practitioner to prove, through touch, that a girl's hymen is in tact. It is very traumatic for the person being tested because she has no control over what is being done to her body. Suffice to say, Sophie was so traumatized by this event, that, in order to end her nightly hell, she broke her hymen with a pestle. Therefore, her life with her mother essentially fractured the innocent child that arrived, from Haiti, to New York. This fragility, brought on by the experience of life with her biological mother, carried over into her sexual relationship with her husband. Sophie is rendered incapable of having a normal sexual relationship, with her husband, due to the testing that was inflicted on her by her mother. The reader learns that her first sexual experience led to her pregnancy with Brigitte, and that the sexual act, between husband and wife, has been sporadic. The reader is witness to a sexual encounter between Sophie and her husband, upon her return from Haiti. Sophie literally doubles during the act, meaning that she transports herself to another place, in her head, and then binge eats and purges afterwards, which is a sign of bulimia. Therefore, it is clear that Sophie is in a fragile emotional state, from living with her mother. Despite the loss of innocence that was the result of life with her biological mother, Sophie can still be categorized as strong. This is the case because, with each trauma that was inflicted upon her, she took steps to preserve her sense of self. There is no record of how she dealt with her mother's nightmares while she lived with her, but she showed concern about how her mother coped in the nights, after she left home. So these nightmares were met with concern and sympathy, which can be considered, in this case, to be not only a reaction to the event, but a coping mechanism as well. This is the case because by attempting to deal with her mother's problem, she robbed it of some of its power over her. She dealt with the testing in a more direct form, by taking back control over her body. The aim of her mother's nightly testings was to ascertain whether or not Sophie's hymen was still intact. Therefore, by breaking that hymen, she stopped the testing. The reader also sees that Sophie is in counselling. This highlights that she recognizes that she is emotionally fragile and has taken a very important step to correct it. Therefore, the concern for her mother, breaking her hymen and taking counselling are all actions that reveal her strength, in the face of serious traumatic events in her life. MARTINE Fragile Martine can be described as a fragile woman. This is due to the trauma that she experienced at the hands of the Ton Ton Macoute in Haiti. Martine was raped and suffered extreme mental trauma as a result. Her family sent her to work in the city, after which she migrated to the United States, leaving the result of her rape, Sophie, in Haiti. The trauma from this experience, however, followed her to her new life in New York. The reader sees her screaming through nightmares and having a hard time during her pregnancy. This pregnancy is the most telling sign of her mental distress and fragility because she revealed, to Sophie, that (www.bulbsoup.com) she was not coping. This tragically ends with her stabbing her belly multiple times, resulting in her death. Without a doubt, it can be asserted that Martine was emotionally fragile. Unlike her daughter, she was unable to come to terms with the fact that she was having difficulties with her experiences in Haiti, and, therefore, could not cope in her new life. This inability to accept her fragility, and therefore seek help, led to her death. TANTIE ATTIE Loving Tantie Attie's loving nature is shown through her act of fostering her sister's child. The love that she has for this child is akin to the love that a mother would have for her child. The reader witnesses this in the heart wrenching departure at the air port, the fact that Tantie saved to buy Sophie a dress to meet her mother, and the fact that she risked the political upheaval of the city in order to ensure that Sophie reached the airport. These are the actions of someone who loves their child. She did not simply view the young Sophie (www.bulbsoup.com) as her niece, but as her daughter. This quality is seen, in Tantie Attie, later on the novel when she interacts with the adult Sophie and her daughter, Brigitte. Despite the fact that this interaction is, at times, peppered with bitterness, on Tantie Attie's part, it is, for the most part, loving in nature. We see her lying on the body, in conversation with Sophie, and playing with Brigitte. Loyal Tantie Attie's loyalty to her family is seen in the sacrifices that she makes for them. The first instance of loyalty is seen in the fact that she fosters her sister's child, who came into existence through such an unfortunate manner, and loves this child like a daughter, while ensuring that she maintain, and respect, the blood bond between Sophie and Martine. Tantie Attie could have been selfish, which would have been the easier road to take, and loved Sophie so much, and so well, that the bond between herself and her maternal mother would have naturally eroded. Instead, she loved Sophie and still left room for Martine. This is seen when Sophie makes a Mother's Day card for Tantie Attie, but Atie insists that she must give it to Martine. This level of loyalty extends to other members of her family as well, like her mother. She plainly states, when I asked why she chose not to go to America, that one child has to take care of Grandme Ife and that person would be her. Bitter The Tantie Attie that the reader meets, upon Sophie's return to Haiti, is bitter, with a touch of sadness thrown in. This is the case because she complains about life in Haiti and, despite achieving the goal of reading, seems to mourn the person that she could have been, if her life were different. Her bitterness is especially focused on her role, of caregiver, to her mother, Grandme Ife, who she finds to be intrusive. Generally, Tantie Attie appears to be dissatisfied with the woman that she has become. GRANDME IFE Grandme Ife is the mother to Martine and Attie, the grandmother to Sophie and the great grandmother of Brigitte. She is, essentially, the matriarch of two generation of Caco women. She, therefore, bears the burden, and knowledge, behind the 'testing' phenomena. The reader learns that she, along with generations of Hatian women, Martine included, test because they know no other way. It is a tradition (www.bulbsoup.com)that has been passed down for generation, something that is done to protect their daughters in order to ensure that they have a desirable future. From Grandme Ife, the reader learns that testing is a cruel act that is done out of love, out of a mother's instinct to protect and ensure the future of their daughters. Grandme Ife's conversation, about testing, does not make the act itself any less cruel and invasive, it simply allows the reader to understand why it happens. THE MEN The men, in the novel, are uni-dimensional characters that.are mirrors of each other. They are supportive, steadfast, flat characters that are powerless in the face of their women's issues. They exist to communicate the fact that men are not the solution to women's problems, but that women must solve their emotional issues for themselves. Marc Chevalier Marc Chevalier is Martine's boyfriend and the mother of her unborn child. Marc appears to be very stoic in the face of the tragedy of Martine's death. He deals with it in a very businesslike fashion, so businesslike, that it would appear as if he did not care about Martine. H is a uni-dimensional character that represents the pragmatic nature of men. Joseph Joseph is Sophie's husband. He is a loving father and a supportive husband, yet he too is a uni-dimensional character. He represents the ideal of a 'good man', the one that women are supposed to hang on to for dear life. However, even this 'good man' does not understand the trauma (www.bulbsoup.com) that surrounds his wife, and that directly affects their marriage. His wife's reaction to sex, with him, is to binge eat, then purge. He exists in the novel to highlight the fact that women have to fix their issues and take care of themselves, because not even the love of a good man can do this for them. It can be proposed that the relationship between Martine and Marc, and Sophie and Joseph are mirrors of each other, just at different stages. Sophie and Joseph are at the beginning, where Sophie still has time to save herself, and therefore her relationship, while Martine and Mark foreshadow the result of the female NOT facing her traumatic demon, which, in turn, affects her relationship positively. |
Themes
LOVE & FAMILY RELATIONSHIP
Martine & Sophie
Love and family relationship is seen in the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory It is a complex theme in this novel because it is not straightforward, it is tinged with bitterness, at times, as well as anger. The first, and most complex relationship, is between Martine and Sophie. This relationship is peppered with love and anger, for both parties. There is love because they both care about each other. Martine shows this when she does not abandon Sophie, despite the violent means by which she was conceived. No one would have blamed Martine if she had simply gotten 'lost' in New York, in order to physically distance herself from the trauma of the rape, the results of the rape, and the people who reminded her of the trauma. Instead, she kept the family ties strong by sending not only money, but also tapes with monologues about her life, as well as life in America. This highlights the fact that she wanted to keep the connection between herself and her family. Her love for her daughter is seen in her action of sending the ticket that would allow her to truly parent her daughter. This is a very big step because it implies that she did not blame her daughter for her conception. She looked beyond how her daughter was conceived and simply saw her child. This is seen in how happy she was to see her daughter, upon Sophie's arrival in New York, and the dreams of success that she harboured for her. This love was returned by Sophie, who tried to be a good girl. Her life was as her mother wanted it to be: school and home.
This love and subsequent care for each other, is not without turbulence, however. Martine is very clear about the path that she wants for her daughter. She wants her to be educated, and she wants nothing to stand in the way of this goal. The fact that Sophie introduces a new element into this equation, Joseph, introduces conflict into Martine and Sophie's relationship. Sophie, by allowing herself to be distracted by Joseph, is no longer aligned with Martine's end goal. It can also be proposed that Martine, though glacial in her response to the knowledge that her daughter is dating, might have been terrified for her only daughter. This is because men equal danger, to Martine. Not only has Sophie gotten a boyfriend, but she has chosen a man that could be her father. This would incite panic in any mother, much less a mother who was raped. Martine knows that sex can ruin a girls chances at success, so it can be posited that her motivation for testing might have been sheer terror. She was terrified that her daughter was ruining her life, and fell back on a tradition that is cruel, yet effective in keeping young girls in their place. So despite the fact that this mother loves her only child, she still inflicted this heinous and invasive act on her, in order, ironically, to protect her. It heightens the conflict between mother and daughter, however, because Sophie feels betrayed by her mother. A mother is supposed to protect her child from harm, and Martine did the opposite. She inflicted harm and no matter what the motivation behind the testing, the act of testing is all that Sophie acknowledged. Their relationship, therefore, is a complicated one that is filled with love, bitterness and anger. We see Sophie, approximately two years later, trying to resolve the feelings of anger and resentment that she harboured towards her mother, which proves that, despite her negative feelings towards Martine, she still loved her. This love is highlighted in her emotional reaction to her mother's death, as well as her reaction to Marc's stoic response to the death.
Tantie Attie & Sophie
This relationship most resembles a healthy mother/ daughter relationship. This is the case because it is filled with the love, understanding and sacrifice that one usually equates with this relationship. Sophie and Tantie Attie adore each other. The reader is privy to the wonderful card that Sophie made for her aunt, as well as Tantie Attie's present to Sophie before she leaves. She presents her with a new dress and makes her favourite breakfast dish. These actions represent small acts of love. It is also clear that Tantie Attie was very sad about letting her niece go, but she did, and this too is an act of love. She understood that despite the fact that she had a strong maternal bond with her niece, she was not her mother. She did not , selfishly, deprive her niece of forming a bond with her biological mother. Letting Sophie go, therefore, was an act of love. The maternal bond changed into a comfortable friendship when Sophie visits Haiti, as an adult. The fact that it naturally transforms into this highlights the fact that the two ladies loved each each other. This is the case because they let each other go, guilt free, which allowed the maternal bond to transform into what it should have been in the first place, friendship.
Tantie Attie & Martine
This relationship is one that is shrouded in shadows, but one filled with love as well. It is shrouded in shadows because it is infused with shared experiences of testing, the pain of mothering the same child, as well as caring for the same mother, in different ways. Their relationship is not directly explored, but there is the implication that it was a good and healthy relationship. This is seen through the fact that Tantie was willing to foster Martin'es child, and return her when her sister wanted her back. The sisters are also immediately able to pick up their relationship when they were reunite in Haiti.
Tantie Attie & Grandme Ife
This mother/ daughter relationship is a strained one, much like the relationship between Sophie and Martine. There is tension because Grandme Ife worries when Tantie Attie stays out late, and Tantie Attie believes that it is her right, as an adult, to do as she pleases. It is the age old struggle of the adult child living under her parents' roof. How much freedom is too much freedom for an adult who still holds the status of child, under her parent's roof? The strain in this relationship also comes from Tantie Attie's resentment at being the child left behind, the daughter who has to stay and take care of her mother. Her conversation with Sophie, when Sophie visited Haiti, revealed that she felt both compelled to be the daughter that takes care of her mother, and resentful of the desire, as well as the fact that she had no choice, to remain in Haiti and take care of Grandme Ife.
Martine & Marc
Marc is a stabilizing force in Martine's life. He is present the very first time that we meet Martine, and he is the one that finds her body in the end, when she dies. The relationship appears, at first, to be an average one because they socialize together and Marc is integrated into Martine's family. Cracks can be seen in this picture however, by the fact that Martine does not make a legal commitment to Marc, but keeps their relationship at a visiting 'boyfriend' status for all the years of the relationship. The cracks, however. became fissures when Martine became pregnant. Her response to her pregnancy was panic and trauma, especially when she discovered that the baby was a boy. No-one, Marc included, could help her through this traumatic period in her life, which ended in her taking her life. It appears that Martine's issues were too great for the level of intimacy that existed between herself and Marc. These issues stem from the fact that Martine was raped, as a young lady, when she lived in Haiti. The result is that she, as seen in her 'arms length' approach to deepening her relationship with Marc, could not lean on the person that she should have been able to lean on, her life partner.
Martine & Sophie
Love and family relationship is seen in the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory It is a complex theme in this novel because it is not straightforward, it is tinged with bitterness, at times, as well as anger. The first, and most complex relationship, is between Martine and Sophie. This relationship is peppered with love and anger, for both parties. There is love because they both care about each other. Martine shows this when she does not abandon Sophie, despite the violent means by which she was conceived. No one would have blamed Martine if she had simply gotten 'lost' in New York, in order to physically distance herself from the trauma of the rape, the results of the rape, and the people who reminded her of the trauma. Instead, she kept the family ties strong by sending not only money, but also tapes with monologues about her life, as well as life in America. This highlights the fact that she wanted to keep the connection between herself and her family. Her love for her daughter is seen in her action of sending the ticket that would allow her to truly parent her daughter. This is a very big step because it implies that she did not blame her daughter for her conception. She looked beyond how her daughter was conceived and simply saw her child. This is seen in how happy she was to see her daughter, upon Sophie's arrival in New York, and the dreams of success that she harboured for her. This love was returned by Sophie, who tried to be a good girl. Her life was as her mother wanted it to be: school and home.
This love and subsequent care for each other, is not without turbulence, however. Martine is very clear about the path that she wants for her daughter. She wants her to be educated, and she wants nothing to stand in the way of this goal. The fact that Sophie introduces a new element into this equation, Joseph, introduces conflict into Martine and Sophie's relationship. Sophie, by allowing herself to be distracted by Joseph, is no longer aligned with Martine's end goal. It can also be proposed that Martine, though glacial in her response to the knowledge that her daughter is dating, might have been terrified for her only daughter. This is because men equal danger, to Martine. Not only has Sophie gotten a boyfriend, but she has chosen a man that could be her father. This would incite panic in any mother, much less a mother who was raped. Martine knows that sex can ruin a girls chances at success, so it can be posited that her motivation for testing might have been sheer terror. She was terrified that her daughter was ruining her life, and fell back on a tradition that is cruel, yet effective in keeping young girls in their place. So despite the fact that this mother loves her only child, she still inflicted this heinous and invasive act on her, in order, ironically, to protect her. It heightens the conflict between mother and daughter, however, because Sophie feels betrayed by her mother. A mother is supposed to protect her child from harm, and Martine did the opposite. She inflicted harm and no matter what the motivation behind the testing, the act of testing is all that Sophie acknowledged. Their relationship, therefore, is a complicated one that is filled with love, bitterness and anger. We see Sophie, approximately two years later, trying to resolve the feelings of anger and resentment that she harboured towards her mother, which proves that, despite her negative feelings towards Martine, she still loved her. This love is highlighted in her emotional reaction to her mother's death, as well as her reaction to Marc's stoic response to the death.
Tantie Attie & Sophie
This relationship most resembles a healthy mother/ daughter relationship. This is the case because it is filled with the love, understanding and sacrifice that one usually equates with this relationship. Sophie and Tantie Attie adore each other. The reader is privy to the wonderful card that Sophie made for her aunt, as well as Tantie Attie's present to Sophie before she leaves. She presents her with a new dress and makes her favourite breakfast dish. These actions represent small acts of love. It is also clear that Tantie Attie was very sad about letting her niece go, but she did, and this too is an act of love. She understood that despite the fact that she had a strong maternal bond with her niece, she was not her mother. She did not , selfishly, deprive her niece of forming a bond with her biological mother. Letting Sophie go, therefore, was an act of love. The maternal bond changed into a comfortable friendship when Sophie visits Haiti, as an adult. The fact that it naturally transforms into this highlights the fact that the two ladies loved each each other. This is the case because they let each other go, guilt free, which allowed the maternal bond to transform into what it should have been in the first place, friendship.
Tantie Attie & Martine
This relationship is one that is shrouded in shadows, but one filled with love as well. It is shrouded in shadows because it is infused with shared experiences of testing, the pain of mothering the same child, as well as caring for the same mother, in different ways. Their relationship is not directly explored, but there is the implication that it was a good and healthy relationship. This is seen through the fact that Tantie was willing to foster Martin'es child, and return her when her sister wanted her back. The sisters are also immediately able to pick up their relationship when they were reunite in Haiti.
Tantie Attie & Grandme Ife
This mother/ daughter relationship is a strained one, much like the relationship between Sophie and Martine. There is tension because Grandme Ife worries when Tantie Attie stays out late, and Tantie Attie believes that it is her right, as an adult, to do as she pleases. It is the age old struggle of the adult child living under her parents' roof. How much freedom is too much freedom for an adult who still holds the status of child, under her parent's roof? The strain in this relationship also comes from Tantie Attie's resentment at being the child left behind, the daughter who has to stay and take care of her mother. Her conversation with Sophie, when Sophie visited Haiti, revealed that she felt both compelled to be the daughter that takes care of her mother, and resentful of the desire, as well as the fact that she had no choice, to remain in Haiti and take care of Grandme Ife.
Martine & Marc
Marc is a stabilizing force in Martine's life. He is present the very first time that we meet Martine, and he is the one that finds her body in the end, when she dies. The relationship appears, at first, to be an average one because they socialize together and Marc is integrated into Martine's family. Cracks can be seen in this picture however, by the fact that Martine does not make a legal commitment to Marc, but keeps their relationship at a visiting 'boyfriend' status for all the years of the relationship. The cracks, however. became fissures when Martine became pregnant. Her response to her pregnancy was panic and trauma, especially when she discovered that the baby was a boy. No-one, Marc included, could help her through this traumatic period in her life, which ended in her taking her life. It appears that Martine's issues were too great for the level of intimacy that existed between herself and Marc. These issues stem from the fact that Martine was raped, as a young lady, when she lived in Haiti. The result is that she, as seen in her 'arms length' approach to deepening her relationship with Marc, could not lean on the person that she should have been able to lean on, her life partner.
