While I was reading the end of Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat, I got confused. But as I was reading the epilogue, I really started to understand. The stories given in Krik? Krak! come full circle, which I think is one reason I loved the book so much.
The epilogue is entitled "Women Like Us." This immediately intrigued me because I am a woman, and wanted to read what Danticat wrote about the gender and mystery of women.
Danticat touches upon the fact in her Haitian culture, it is not seen for women to be writers. Women that are known to cook and write are called "kitchen poets." Danticat writes on page 220 that "when you write, it's like braiding your hair. Taking a handful of coarse unruly strands and attempting to bring them unity. Like the diverse women in your family. Those whose fables and metaphors, whose similes, and soliloquies, whose diction and je ne sais quoi daily slip into your survival soup, by way of their fingers." I love the way Danticat relates bringing peices of hair together in a sense of unity and compares them to bringing all of the women's stories together, good or bad, magical or insane, romantic or cold, together in one. That was something I found truly beautiful to me because it reminded me of my own family.
My family is filled with beautiful, strong, and interesting women who have all gone down different paths in life but have remained rooted to my family and have lived to share their tales as means of communication and advice towards others, like myself. That quote really connected to my life, the women I look up the most to (my mom, my cousin, and my aunt) and how their words of wisdom have guided me into my future.
Danticat also relates writing in the present day as a way of telling someone else, regardless of who it is, your story and the stories of other inspirational figures that have guided you. On page 222, Danticat writes, "These women, they asked for your voice so that they could tell your mother in your place that yes, women like you do speak, even if they speak in a tongue that is hard to understand." I found this so effective because it's true. Even though it was once seen as immoral and not write for a woman to voice her opinions, thoughts, and dreams on something as informal as white lined paper, it is a means of living to tell others, regardless of gender, your path in life and your story as well as your women ancestors that came before you. When she says, "these women asked for your voice," what she means is that women were never allowed to write in the olden days. Now, women can voice their opinions and openly tell others their secrets. The women from the past are asking for a way to get their visions and stories out in order to inspire others. By a present relative or friend doing so, she lives to tell all. The present day woman can relate to people today in a way that others could not back then. This is something truly beautiful. She also says on page 222 that "the women in your family have never lost touch with one another." Regardless of who passes or not, signals of women ancestors are always around, guiding you towards your future, especially by their past stories. I definitely feel that was the main theme Danticat wanted to get across here. As Danticat puts it on page 224, "This was your testament to the way that these women lived and died and lived again." Through writing like Danticat did, she was able to unify all different stories from perhaps women from her past and present Haiti together in one to create a truly powerful and beautiful story.
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