Sandra Alzate Professor Barker ENG 120 Oct. 14th, 2008 EDWIGE DANICATS’S TONES IN “WE ARE UGLY, BUT WE ARE HERE” When I first read “We Are Ugly, But We Are Here,” I was stunned to learn how women in Haiti were treated. Edwige Danticat, who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1969 and immigrated to Brooklyn when she was 12 years old, writes about her experiences in Haiti and about the lives their of her ancestors that she links to her own. Her specific purpose is to discuss what all these families went through. Especially the women. In order to offer the next generation a voices and a future. Banticat writes vividly about events that occurred in Haiti, leading up to an assertion about the strength of Haitian woman. Her essay is powerful in large part because of it’s passion and how she manages its tone. Danticat begin her essay with tragic and bitter tone. She tells of the first people whose were murdered when the Spaniards came to Haiti including Queen Anacaona, an Arawak Indian who ruled over the western part of the island. With bitterness she states, “Queen Anacaona was one of they’re first victims. She was raped and killed and her village pillaged.” (pg. 137). After establishing this sad and bitter tone, Danticat moves to a more joyful tone when she reminisces about the times when her grandmother would tell her stories: “My grandmother was an old Country woman who always felt displaced in the City of Port-au-Prince—where we lived—and had nothing but her patched-up quilts and her stories to console her. She was the one who told me about Anacaona”. Danicat stresses here how important these experiences where to her. Danticat then shifts to a more neutral tone when she recalls her grandmothers’ peaceful death with her eyes open, she took her grandmothers death calmly because death was so frequent in Haiti. “I have such a strong feeling that death is not the end, that the people we bury are going off too live somewhere else” (p. 138).
Work Cited Edwige Danticat. (1996) “We Are Ugly, but We Are Here”. The Caribbean Writer 10.3: pg. 137-41. Retrieved October 2008 from Academic search primeir, Lehman Library.
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Sandra Alzate
Professor Barker
ENG 120
Oct. 14th, 2008
EDWIGE DANICATS’S TONES IN “WE ARE UGLY, BUT WE ARE HERE”
When I first read “We Are Ugly, But We Are Here,” I was stunned to learn how women in Haiti were treated. Edwige Danticat, who was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1969 and immigrated to Brooklyn when she was 12 years old, writes about her experiences in Haiti and about the lives their of her ancestors that she links to her own. Her specific purpose is to discuss what all these families went through. Especially the women. In order to offer the next generation a voices and a future. Banticat writes vividly about events that occurred in Haiti, leading up to an assertion about the strength of Haitian woman. Her essay is powerful in large part because of it’s passion and how she manages its tone.
Danticat begin her essay with tragic and bitter tone. She tells of the first people whose were murdered when the Spaniards came to Haiti including Queen Anacaona, an Arawak Indian who ruled over the western part of the island. With bitterness she states, “Queen Anacaona was one of they’re first victims. She was raped and killed and her village pillaged.” (pg. 137).
After establishing this sad and bitter tone, Danticat moves to a more joyful tone when she reminisces about the times when her grandmother would tell her stories: “My grandmother was an old Country woman who always felt displaced in the City of Port-au-Prince—where we lived—and had nothing but her patched-up quilts and her stories to console her. She was the one who told me about Anacaona”. Danicat stresses here how important these experiences where to her.
Danticat then shifts to a more neutral tone when she recalls her grandmothers’ peaceful death with her eyes open, she took her grandmothers death calmly because death was so frequent in Haiti. “I have such a strong feeling that death is not the end, that the people we bury are going off too live somewhere else” (p. 138).
Work Cited
Edwige Danticat. (1996) “We Are Ugly, but We Are Here”. The Caribbean Writer 10.3: pg. 137-41. Retrieved October 2008 from Academic search primeir, Lehman Library.
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