Walcott: The Sea is History (how it connects to Children of the Sea)

I think the connection between these two works lies with the sea, being that it is something that both the story and the poem seem to revolve around, and what the sea means in both works. In Walcott's poem he describes the sea as a "grey vault" that "has locked them up," alluding to the lives that have been lost at sea. In the story "Children of the Sea," Danticat's young man talks about how the sea is deadly and merciless "...like the sharks that live there. It has no mercy."

Davis: Oral Narrative as Short Story Cycle: Forging Community in Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak!

Rocio G. Davis' article, "Oral Narrative as Short Story Cycle: Forging Community in Edwidge Danticat’s Krik? Krak!" is her literary analysis of Edwidge Danticat's novel, Kirk? Krak! Davis states her thesis by saying "This article will explore the short story cycle as a vehicle for the development of ethnic literature by analyzing Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat's Krik? Krak! to show how the drama of identity and community is mediated through a genre that is linked to the oral narrative, itself a way of fostering imaginative communities and developing identities," (Davis). Throughout this article she greatly focuses on how Danticat uses the mother daughter relationships in the stories that she writes as well as how these stories tie into each other and her people and she uses the works of Amy Tan, Gloria Naylor, Julia Alvarez, and Louise Erdich as examples of how mother-daughter relationships have been used in ethnic literature over time. Davis believes that "Danticat's narrative presents the voices and visions of women, usually mothers and daughters, whose personal tragedies impel them to form community in the midst of oppression and exile," (Davis). Davis shows this by summarizing and analyzing the stories in Krik? Krak! such as "Children of the Sea," "Nineteen Thirty-Seven," and "Wall of Fire Rising." Davis also talks about important symbols in these stories of Krik? Krak! such as the sea, butterflies, and death. This type of article is an excellent example of what this English class will be aiming to achieve for our literary analyses. The thesis was clear and easy to find and Davis' argument follows what she tells her audience what she intended to write about.

Danticat: Children of the Sea

Edwidge Danticat's story, "Children of the Sea," is the first story in her collection of narratives Krik? Krak! This story is shared by two narrators, a young man and a young woman who are in love with each other. They write letters to each other that will never be read by the other because they have been separated by the horrid events occurring in their home town which caused the young man to flee because of his opposition of the Haitian government. The young man is on a boat to America, along with many other passengers hoping to escape Haiti. The young woman is left in Haiti with her family but leaves their home in Port-au-Prince to Ville Rose in order to save themselves from the macoutes. Besides the constant violence and death, a common motif in both sides of the story is the sea. At the end of one of the young man's letters he writes: "Maybe the see is endless. Like my love for you," (Danticat). Quite similar to what her lover wrote, the young woman writes at the end of the story: "behind these mountains are more mountains and more black butterflies still and a sea that is as endless as my love for you," (Danticat). These two quotes show that the sea symbolizes the strength of their love for each other despite the distance that has been forced between them.

Pulitano: Landscape, Memory and Survival in the Fiction of Edwidge Danticat

In Elvira Pulitano’s, “Landscape, Memory and Survival in the Fiction of Edwidge Danticat,” she analyzes several of Edwidge Danticat’s literary works such as: Brother, I am Dying, “Caroline’s Wedding,” “Children of the Sea,” The Farming of Bones, and “Nineteen Thirty-Seven” three of these works are from Danticat’s novel Krik? Krak! Out of these literary works, Pulitano focuses on three specific elements that she believes is important in Danticat's work, which is her description of landscape, the importance of memory, and the struggles her characters endure in order to survive, hence her title. Pulitano describes Danticat's purpose behind her works as "Addressing both Haitians at home and in the Diaspora, Danticat grounds her narratives on Haitian soil thus w/righting her island history against colonial and neocolonial discourse on islands," (Pulitano). Throughout this article, Pulitano talks about the Diaspora, which is the dispersion of people from their homeland and in this case, the dispersion of the Haitian people from their island. The reason Danticat sets her narratives on Haitian soil is because she wants to share what her people have truly endured. Pulitano uses the term "w/righting," quite interestingly. It implies that Danticat is not only writing stories of literary merit but she also wants to right the history of her home against the colonial or neocolonial control over her homeland. This article is another prime example of what we will be aiming to write for our genre analysis in class. Pulitano uses her sources effectively has a strong argument to defend which is something that I aim to do in my analysis at the end of the semester. 

Danticat: Nineteen Thirty-Seven

In Edwidge Danticat's short story, "Nineteen Thirty-Seven," she tells the story of a young girl, Josephine, whose mother has been imprisoned for being responsible for the death of another woman's child. This story is full of colorful imagery, being told from the point of view of a child, but a very important motif in this story is the Madonna that Josephine takes with her when she goes to visit her mother. The Madonna, which is a statue of the Virgin Mary that is usually holding a young Jesus, is often a symbol of faith and motherhood in Catholicism, and represents that as well in this story. In this specific tale, Josephine believes that the Madonna cries because her mother has died even though she knows that the tears are only oil being released from melted wax placed by her mother behind the eyes of the Madonna (Danticat). Her mother insists that she bring the Madonna with her on every visit, and at these visits Josephine believes that "At times, she seemed happier to see the Madonna than she was to see me,"(Danticat) which emphasizes the value of the statue to Josephine's mother. Her mother, as she begins to become even more ill in her imprisonment, tells Josephine to "Keep the Madonna when I am gone...When I am completely gone, maybe you will have someone to take my place...But if you don't, you will always have the Madonna," (Danticat). This quote emphasizes the Madonna statue as a motherly figure since Josephine's mother is hoping that it will take her place for her daughter once she has passed away. This story mainly focuses on the relationship between mother and child, something that the Madonna statue encompasses.

Alexie: The Toughest Indian in the World

Alexie's story "The Toughest Indian in the World," is a story of a man who becomes disconnected with his Indian culture. This story is about an Indian man who lives a simple life and was raised with Indian morals of how people will "shoot you in the heart." Because of what he was taught by his father as a child, he learns that it is okay to pick up Indian hitchhikers. He is a reporter for a newspaper that writes human-interest pieces and while on a trip to interview someone for an article, he picks up an Indian hitchhiker heading to Wenatchee, his home reservation. They converse and he discovers that the hitchhiker is a fighter and that he was returning from a fight against the supposed "Toughest Indian in the World." This relationship takes an interesting and unexpected turn after the man offers the hitchhiker a place to stay the night. After they had gone to sleep the reporter awoke to find the hitchhiker in bed with him, naked and aroused. Although the reporter claims he is not gay he allows this encounter to happen and says "But I wanted him to save me." The question though is save him from what? This could show that he wants the hitchhiker to save him from the type of life he has been leading and in a sense, bring him back to the culture he left quite some time ago.

DeVoss & Rosati: "It Wasn't Me, Was It?" Plagiarism and the Web

In this article, DeVoss and Rosati divulge in the phenomenon of plagiarism among students today. Their audience for their work is directed towards fellow educators of writing and how this situation can be handled. These writers start their article with three stories of their encounters with plagiarism among their students in their time as educators. In the first story, Rosati was skimming a paper mill online to see what was being said about King Lear, while doing this she was familiar with some of the essays she was reading on the paper mill. When she asked for the three students to come forward she had more than those three come to her office and ask: "It wasn't me, was it?" In the next story, DeVoss was giving a tour of the library and notices that an older student did not show for the tour. When he turned in his assignment, all of his sources were from websites and not the most credible of sites either. She has a meeting with this student and shows him all of the resources the library has to offer as well how to find sources in the library. At this, the student was astonished with the work that goes into research. In the final story, DeVoss has a foreign student that although he does not quite have a grip on American writing, he proves to be bright and has a spark in his writing. Until on one assignment he turns in work that is lacking his "spark." She addresses the issue with the student and he reluctantly admits that he did not write the paper. According to the authors, the reason for sharing these stories is to remind educators the issues of research and plagiarism are interconnected to each other. The writers explain a theory by Rebecca Moore Howard that seeing some instances of plagiarism as "patchwriting" or "kidnapping" helps students grow with their writing skills whereas labeling is as theft is simply clarifying as stolen work. The authors explain how the readiness and ease of the internet has made plagiarism even more tempting. This is because of the plethora of information on a multitude of subject that can be found online and the simplicity of "copy and paste." In this work, the authors also mention that by focusing on plagiarism and seeing writing as intellectual property helps the students understand why plagiarizing is wrong. This article applies to this course do to the upcoming research we are about to embark on for our final work.