CSEC ENGLISH
Hello there! We’re still working on Edwidge Danticat’s wonderful novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, one of the prose texts for the current English B syllabus. We also have some revision exercises to help with your language skills. Read on, and enjoy your CSEC English page!
ENGLISH B—BREATH, EYES, MEMORY (Summary of Part 2)
At the start of this novel, Sophie is twelve. We saw how she left Haiti and her dear Aunt Atie, and joined her mother, Martine, in New York. At the start of Part 2 of the novel, Sophie is eighteen. She attends a French-speaking school, and is very conscious of not belonging in New York. English-speaking students despise the Haitians, and regularly insult them.
Her loneliness comes to an end when she gets to know Joseph, an AfricanAmerican musician living nearby. Sophie is delighted to discover that Joseph, who hails from Louisana, speaks creole too; they ‘speak the same language’ and understand each other completely. Their friendship deepens, and Joseph indicates that he wants to marry Sophie, even though he is considerably older than she is. Sophie loves Joseph, but fears that Martine, her mother, will not approve of the relationship.
When Sophie attempts to tell Martine that she has found someone she loves, Martine immediately becomes suspicious and hostile. In fear, Sophie lies about the friend’s identity, leading Martine to believe that he is Haitian. Martine is eager to find out the young man’s family background, social status and prospects in life. Unknown to Sophie, she carries out her research, and discovers that her daughter has been lying.
Sophie’s confiding in her mother leads to the most traumatic ordeal in her life: testing. Like other Haitian mothers, Martine is concerned to guard her daughter’s virginity, so she orders Sophie to her bedroom, where she ‘tests’ her—examining her to determine whether or not her hymen is still intact. Henceforth, the examination is to take place weekly.
Sophie is utterly traumatised by the experience: she responds coldly to Joseph, not explaining the reason for her changed attitude. In desperation, she takes a pestle with her to her bed, and rams it inside herself, breaking the hymen once and for all. When Martine finds out that Sophie is no longer a virgin, she throws her out of the house.
Alone in the world, Sophie turns to Joseph, telling him she is now ready to marry him.
Narrative Strategies
● One narrative strategy we have just referred is the use of symbolism. Language is an important symbol in this novel. The fact that Joseph and Sophie ‘speak the same language’ is both literal and symbolic: it means that they understand each other and connect with each other.
● Another important narrative strategy that we will consider now is the withholding of information in order to create suspense.
At the end of Part 1, when Sophie is rejected by Martine and agrees to marry Joseph, we have many questions in our minds: Danticat has cleverly created suspense. How will Joseph react to the pestle incident? Has Sophie injured herself? Why did she do it? How will their relationship be affected? Will Martine change her mind?
You will notice that Danticat withholds the answers to our questions.
● As we move into Part 3, we discover that Sophie now has a baby, Brigitte, so evidently she and Joseph have consummated their
● Then we discover that she is now in Haiti—without Joseph! (Has she left him?) It’s not until we get to Chapter20 that we discover poor Joseph has no idea where his wife is: she just disappeared with her child!
● marriage. She tells us, though, that Brigitte was conceived then, so apparently that was their one and only sexual encounter! (Why? What’s wrong?)
As far as the pestle incident is concerned, it’s not until we get to Chapter 19 that we learn Sophie had spent two days in hospital and four weeks with stitches to help her body to heal. Joseph cannot understand how she could have done ‘something so horrible’ to herself, but for Sophie it was ‘like breaking manacles, an act of freedom’.
It’s not until we reach Chapter 18 that we learn what the ‘testing’ did to Sophie: because of the testing, she now dreads intimacy with her husband; ‘He is a very good man, but I have no desire. I feel like it is an evil thing to do’ she confides to her grandmother, Ife. Read carefully the paragraph above that begins “Her loneliness comes to an end…”. Which sentence gives the MAIN IDEA –that Sophie is no longer lonely after she meets Joseph? How does each of the other sentences expand this idea? The last sentence forms a bridge to the next paragraph; what do you think the main idea in the next paragraph will be?
SINGULAR OR PLURAL?
Here’s a question asked by a reader: “Why do you sometimes see a singular verb after the noun NUMBER, and sometimes a plural verb?” Good question! Now let’s see if we can find a good answer!
Look at these two sentences:
A. The number of accidents caused by stray cows alarmingly. (Singular verb: has) has increased
B. A number of cows were impounded last week during the road safety campaign. (Plural verb: were)
It all depends on whether your focus is on the idea of NUMBER or on the idea of COWS. In A, the focus is on NUMBER: The number…has increased. In B, the focus is on the cows: …cows were impounded.
And if that explanation does not help, then follow this rule: A number of cows + plural verb. The number of cows + singular verb.
Easy, isn’t it?
CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORD
1. Her father, who worked as a death on two occasions. (miner/minor),
Turn to 6B
had narrowly escaped