The Farming Of Bones
Individual Journal
The novel The Farming of Bones was a fresh look on a massacre that killed tens
of thousands of people. The historical aspect of the book was very powerful; it seemed to
connect other books we have read, such as the Latehomecomer, or movies about other
examples of ethnic cleansing such as in Rwanda. Edwidge Danticat brought together
imagery, historical connections and character development to create a meaningful novel.
The massacre of 1937 is a blemish on the history of the Dominican Republic and
Haiti. The government tension between the neighboring countries brings about a very
powerful topic for the novel. The immigrants to the Dominican Republic from Haiti were
looking for work, but most of them ended up killed. In the novel, Senor Pico races home
to see is new born twins. While frantically driving, he hits and kills Joël, a friend of
Sebastian. For many Haitians working on the sugar cane fields, this killing symbolizes
the start of the ethic cleansing and slaughter of the Haitian workers. Senor Pico as a
general may indeed symbolize the Dominican Republic government as a whole, which
got fed up with the influx of immigrant workers on the border regions and motioned to
cleanse the regions of the Haitian blood.
This historical act of ethnic cleansing and secret wars relates to two other stories
of such events. The Latehomecomer has connections because of the racism against the
Hmong community in the countries of Laos and Thailand. They were killed while trying
to escape to freedom and could never truly find a home for their people. This secret war
against the Hmong was also overshadowed by the Vietnam War. The slaughter and
racism against Hmong was never taught in history classes. This relates to the massacre of
1937 through the fact that his massacre was greatly overshadowed by the slaughter of
Jews and other minorities in Europe at the time from the Nazi Regime. Both examples of
hidden slaughters are a disgrace to the countries’ history.
The story of ethnic “cleansing” around the world was brought to Hollywood in
2004 by the movie Hotel Rwanda. The Rwanda Genocide of 1994 was the cause of over
800,000 deaths of the Tutsi people by the Hutus. These two cultures lived under tension
in Rwanda until 1994 when the Hutu extremists started to slaughter the Tutsi people. This
ethnic cleansing of the country resulted in genocide and yet another example of shame for
an ethnically diverse area.
One of the ways that the Dominican Republic murderers could distinguish people
their own people and the Haitian workers was the pronunciation of the word perejil or
parsley. The rolling of the r would signify a passing of the test. If not, they were killed. In
this sense the parsley signified death and the massacre in the novel. Water was also
another image that did this. Since Amabelle’s and Sebastian’s parents were killed in
water, and many of the bodies of Haitians were dumped into the river, the water signifies
the end of the live cycle. Finally, the novel also ends the Amabelle in the water,
signifying not only the end but possibly also the beginning and renewal for her life.
Within the novel, the development of Amabelle’s character arose greatly from the
insight that Danticat gives the reader though the dream chapters. These chapters are
beneficial for Amabelle’s character. Many of them tell about Amabelle’s past, such as on
208 when it tells about the memories of her mother. The dreams seem to give Amabelle
hope and inspiration for the future while she gets through the emotionally draining events
around her. The dreams seem to be the key for her survival and maintaining her sanity.
The novel brings together a horrifying history with the beauty and passion of
Haitian culture and Danticat’s carefully structured character development and imagery.
The Farming of Bones signifies the need to survive through the terrible times in life, and
the things that get us through it.