Born and raised in Haiti, Sophie Caco, became a women who after all she has gone through is now not afraid to face reality. Sophie's birth was due to the rape done to her mother. Sophie's mother had nightmares about the rape every night. Sophie lived with her grandmother Ife and her Tante Atie in Haiti while her mother lived in New York. Sophie's mother moved to New York because of the thought of accomplishing the American Dream. While young Sophie learned about something that changed her life forever, she was to move to New York to live with her mother. She was very shocked at the thought and she still couldn't believe it. Sophie did not want to leave behind her family and friends and move in with someone who she barely knew. Though US was the ideal place for a better life and education opportunities Sophie still did not look forward to moving there. In New York Sophie learned America was not such a great place to live as others have stated. Though her mother sent money back home to Sophie it was as though her mother didn't take much care of herself. As Sophie observed she stated “ She stopped in front of a pale yellow car with a long crack across the windshield glass” ( Danticat 41), her mother wasn't living the life she thought she would.
Sophie was quick to fall in love. At the age of eighteen she fell in love with a much older man by the name of Joseph. She later was married to him and they had a child, after having the child her life was never the same. Sophie felt she could no longer satisfy her husband so to avoid him she left for Haiti. In Haiti her grandmother was preparing her funeral because she thought her time will come soon when she would have to leave her family behind. Sophie's mother came looking for her and took her back to New York. There Sophie found out her mother was expecting a child. The child however, was touring apart Sophie's mother because she couldn't bare with the child's strength. Shortly after Sophie's mother took her own life because the baby was too controlling and reminded her about the rape very much. Her mother stabbed herself seventeen times and her funeral was held in Haiti where they had more of a celebration then a funeral. From that day on Sophie's life changed forever because she was no longer afraid to deal with reality unlike her mother.
Work Cited :
Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory. New York: Vintage, 1998. Print.
Bibliography :
Breath, Eyes, Memory, Edwidge Danticat. May 1998, Vintage.
