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.