The Paradoxical Effects of Change
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, once said, "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." Change is the action of becoming something different, which is the single goal of immigrants in search of the American Dream. One person, one change, completely different life. For those fortunate of never having to make such change, stories of these incomprehensible actions highlights the lack of understanding in the rest of society. Krik? Krak!, a collection of short stories, depicts the life of Haitian despair and hope for change. Through these stories of Haiti within Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat shows the paradoxical effects of
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Danticat’s Children of the Sea introduce the horrors of Haiti, as readers indulge themselves in the letters between a boy traveling across the ocean and his girlfriend still living in Haiti. In the first letter, the girl writes, “besides, manman says that butterflies can bring news. the bright ones bring happy news and the black ones warn us of death. we have our whole lives ahead of us. you used to say that, remember?” (5) Although the boy is traveling across the sea, the change into a better life for him still bring hope to the girl. Hope is a magical creation, conjured up when humans are at their lowest. Quickly after Children of the Sea, The Wall of Fire Rising demonstrates the desperate actions one will take for freedom. Guy and his family lived in Haiti forever; however Guy needs something different: Listen to this, Lili. I want to tell you a secret. Sometimes, I just want to take that big balloon and ride it up in the air. I’d like to sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place with a nice plot of land where I could be something new. I’d build my own house, keep my own garden. Just be something new.”