The Farming Of Bones By Edwidge Danticat

The story, The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat, follows the life of an orphaned Haitian woman named Amabelle who is living in the Dominican Republic. The Parsley Massacre arises, and Amabelle undergoes the loss of her parents, her love, Sebastien, and others she encounters. Further in the story, Danticat highlights how numerous characters lose their lives due to the violence that occurs during the time. Through the symbolism of the river, Denticat demonstrates that embracing the heartache that comes from death is essential to proceed through life.

Amabelle lies in a bed in the Dominican Republic, and thinks about the trauma latched to her mentally from the river, due to her parents loosing their lives there. Amabelle’s detailed memory

At the border, she pays a visit to Father Romain. As Amabelle leaves his house, “[she] wanted, but could not bring [herself] to visit the river “ (Danticat 262). Years later, Amabelle’s trauma from her loved ones holds heavy over her shoulders, and the thought of them frequently appears in her mind every time she sees the river. Yves and his mom, two people who provide shelter and food for Amabelle once she gets to Haiti, don’t take any weight off of the burden she feels from the deaths. Yves’s mom has a conversation with Amabelle and she tells her that she questioned her son “... why there is no love between you and him, and he told me about Sebastien” (Danticat 244). Amabelle does not embrace the past trauma; hence, the present people and events do not have any positive meaning to her. Yves, a kind young man places himself in Amabelle’s life, and she blindly ignores his presence due to her not accepting the idea of moving on from the death of her prior love. Amabelle wonders,” whether [her] flesh could feel anything but pain“(Danticat 250). Amabelle is indirectly draining herself of the significance of life by relentlessly latching to past loved ones death’s. However, Amabelle questioning if she can possibly not feel pain anymore demonstrates how she is growing to learn that it is crucial she accepts the trauma caused by the death of her

As Amabelle stares into the water that flows in the river, she thinks that “heaven-my heaven-is the veil of water that stands between my parents and me” (Danticat 264-265). Amabelle realizes that there is a clear separation between what she can not control in the past, and what happens in the present. Her parents and Sebastien will never be with her again, and river is what separates her from them. Moreover, Amabelle wants to “...find new manners of filling up [her] head, new visions for an old life, waterless rivers to cross and real waterfall caves to slip into over a hundred times each day “(Danticat 281). Amabelle is determined to cross the river and face her trauma coming from the grief she has been grasping. She seeks happiness and believes that facing the trauma by crossing the river will provide closure and allow her to move forward. Amabelle wants a man to “carry [her] into the river, into Sebastien's cave, [her] father’s laughter, [her] mother’s eternity” (Danticat 310). Amabelle fronts the strain of the loss of her parents, and Sebastien, and chooses to enter the river. Amabelle releases the anguish surrounded by the idea of confronting the burden of their deaths; she comes to terms with death as a whole, and enters the river to prove to herself she can let go of the past trauma from the death of her loved