IRB Blog Post 8

Sophie's mother works as a care taker/maid for an invalid old woman. She stays with her and cares for her and sleeps on the floor next to her every night. Sophie cares for herself and sleeps on a cot in a separate room. One night Sophie feels extremely homesick and wants nothing but to be near someone so she asks for her mother to come and spend the night with her. When they begin to talk Martine, Sophie's mother looks into her eyes and asks if she was the mother Sophie had hoped she'd be. Sophie had always hoped that her mother would be like Erzulie, the vaudou loa and Virgin Mother, "the healer of all women and the desire of all men." However Sophie tells her that couldn't have asked for better.

When I read of Erzulie, the Virgin Mother I became curious as to who that was and what the story behind that person/thing was that had relevance to the way Sophie had perceived her mother to be.
This is what I learnt:

http://www.erzulies.com/site/articles/view/29

IRB Blog Post 7

As Sophie begins to adjust to her new life in America her relationship with her mother still seems to stay a bit awkward. Though they are not yet that close, her mother seems to be speaking for her and denying her ambitions and making decisions for her. For example when Sophie says that she wants to be a secretary when she grows up her mother stops her and tells her that she will be come a doctor and will not even consider dating until the age of eighteen.
Sophie is now going to school and is very nervous about the adjustment as she has heard many negative rumors of her school and the people that attend it. Her mother also introduces Marc to Sophie, her long term boyfriend. Marc is well dressed, put together, rich and a lawyer. He works in a well kept peaceful neighborhood, unlike the one where Sophia and her mother live with graffiti all over the walls and chaos running all about throughout the streets.

IRB Blog Post 6

As the story progresses, Sophie thinks and mentions her father more and more. Atie told her that she had been born out of rosepetals, water and a chunk of the sky but Sophie was now old enough to understand that that could not be true. She becomes more and more curious about the absence of a father figure in her life but no one seems to have any answers for her. She would have been able to find a father figure in the man that Atie was originally supposed to marry; the man that lived across the street from them in Haiti, Donald Augustin. Before meeting his wife Lotus he had intended to marry Atie but Martine would not tell Sophie what happened to change that.

The affects of not having a fatherly figure in a child's life can be huge. I am sure that the fact that there was no father in Sophie's life will definetly have a huge impact in her life and i am only waiting for it to become a more prominent fact in the story.

This is a link to a website about fatherless daughters and their experiences growing up and the way that not having a man in their lives has affected them.
http://fatherlessdaughters1.blogspot.com/

IRB Blog Post 5

"You are going to work hard here— no one is going to break your heart because you cannot read or write. You have a chance to become the kind of woman Atie and I have always wanted to be. If you make something of yourself in life, we will all succeed. You can raise our heads." (Danticat, 44)

In my opinion this quote from the book shows that Martine really does care about her daughter and only wants the best for her. She is making her dreams and aspirations relying on Sophie's success. She has faith that Sophie will make her family proud. Seeing this made me feel happy that Sophie and her mother were re-united because though it might be akward and uncomfortable between them right now, I feel that this will be best for them both in the long run. No mother should be seperated from her child, even though in this case Martine is the one that caused the seperation...

IRB Blog Post 4

When Sophie and Atie are waiting for Sophie to board her plane to New York, a random completely unknown and unidentified woman in a navy uniform approaches them and says that she is the one that is supposed to take Sophie to NY to be with her mother. It seemed strange to me that there was no explanation of who she was and I wonder why Atie did not question her more than she did. She forced Atie and Sophie to a quick goodbye and i am starting to feel that she has a questionable role in the story (so far)

IRB Blog Post 3

"'I don't know why you can't go to New York too,' I said. 'We are each going to our mothers. That is what was supposed to happen. Your mother wants to see you now, Sophie. She does not want you to forget who your real mother is. When she left you with me, she and I, we agreed that it would only be for a while. You were just a baby then. She left you because she was going to a place she knew nothing about. She did not want to take chances with you.'" (Danticat, 20)

I chose this quote from the very beginning of the section because it makes me wonder; it has not been mentioned yet why Sophie's mother actually decided to leave Haiti and go to New York nor has it mentioned what time period the story is taking place. The fact that the time period is unknown could play a huge factor in why a mother would think it was better for them to leave their child in Haiti rather than bring them to New York. Also in this quote Atie says that "she did not want to take chances with you". What chances? What fear did Sophie's mother have? Reading this quote only made me more intrigued by the story and made me anxious to have these questions answered.