Summary Of Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory

A person is said to be a virgin if he or she has not had sexual intercourse. Before, there were many areas, villages and countries that were patriarchal or male-dominated. In these countries, women were seen as objects owned by men, as beneath them. In some of these areas, especially in Africa, the purity and virginity of a woman came alongside their honor. In Haiti specifically, there was a common practice called virginity testing, where a girl’s mother would check if the girl’s hymen was still intact - using her own two fingers. If the mother discovered that it was broken, she would assume that her daughter was unchaste, and she would automatically disown her. However, some women are born without a hymen, while others may break theirs through strenuous activity. These facts are not considered during testing, so some girls may fail the virginity test yet still be a virgin. In Edwidge Danticat’s novel “Breath, Eyes, Memory,” she shows the readers of the effects of rape, virginity testing, and other forms of sexual abuse. She presents to us how sexual abuse can constantly haunt a woman throughout

Sophie also had to be as flexible as a daffodil when she was forcefully moved to a foreign land. She had to undergo many drastic changes such as learning a new language, and she also had to go through torment from her peers, “Outside of school, we were “the Frenchies,” cringing in our mock-Catholic-school uniforms as the students from the public school across the street called us “boat people” and “stinking Haitians”” (Danticat 66). Amidst all of these challenges, Sophie still thrived in America, getting good grades and even getting into college. Sophie said that her responsibility is to study hard and do nothing but school and prayer (Danticat 67). These qualities exemplify the traits of the daffodil, how strong and flexible Sophie is amidst her