Krik? Krak!
Throughout any civilization, money has always been an issue. Anywhere from
people having too much money and not wanting to share, to people dying from not
having enough to survive. Everyone has a different perspective of money, whether it
being the most important thing in their lives or not. In Edwidge Danticat's book Krik?
Krak! she delivers the message of the Haitians time period of insane poverty. This comes
from when she describes women forced into prostitution, living conditions, and babies
being thrown away due lack of money and resources to care for the infant
In the short story Night Women, we learn about the main character and her
“career” choice or obligation, as some people may put it. Poverty plays a major role in
this women’s life. During these times, it was very difficult for men to find blue collared
jobs; most of them were put onto waiting lists. It was nearly impossible for women to
find any type of job. She was a mother struggling to make a living for her and her son.
His absent father also made it very difficult to make ends meet. With no job or a husband
to bring home the bacon for her and the son, the Night Women is forced into the life that
no women would want. She was degrading herself every night as a prostitute, pleasing
any man with a healthy wallet just to make a living.
In most of the short stories, such as Children of the sea, Nineteen-Thirty Seven, A
Wall of Fire Rising, Night women, etc, the author describes the poor living conditions
each family has to survive through. They pretty much have no other choice since they are
all of low income or no income families forced to the life of poverty. The author
describes most of their homes as tin roofed little houses that rattle and make noises when
it rains or there is too much wind. In A Wall of Fire Rising, one of the wife’s household
duties is to bring in rain water they collect in an old gasoline tank. Almost all the homes
are described as one roomed homes. In Night Women, the main character tells her story of
how she has a large curtain that splits her room into two, so her and her son can have,
what she calls, privacy.
The short story that mostly grabbed my attention was The Missing Peace. The
main character in this story talks about how she finds a baby on the side walk day. This
baby was completely dead, as if mother just ripped it out of herself and tossed it in the
trash not thinking that it was her own flesh and blood. She states that it is very normal to
see a baby thrown out like an old rag in the city. Poverty to an extreme, where innocent
children have to be get rid of because there is no money to feed them, clothe them, have
any of the basic essential they will need. Money was destroying lives and having one of
the biggest impacts on Haitian people’s lives. Children were not getting a chance to live
and have a happy life because parents don’t have any of the resources they need to bring
them up and raise them the way they should be raised and cared for.
As though it wasn't hard enough for the Haitians to survive the cruel dictatorship,
they also have to survive they poverty their country has brought upon them. No decent
jobs or homes. People were being forced to live like rats and animals, eating whatever
they found and drinking rain water. You never know how basic essentials are until you
have none. This is how Edwidge Danticat describes and proves poverty through her short
stories in Krik? Krak!