19 Varieties of Gazelle: 19 Varieties of Gazelle & Jerusalem Headlines 2000

    In 19 Varieties of Gazelle, Nye writes highly of the freedom the gazelle have.  She poses her audience to contemplate the freedom of the gazelle by asking "Is the whole air the path of the gazelle?" (88).  Animals truly have freedom to take any path they ca reach.  Nye connects the freedom of nature to the Middle East yet again in section two.
   Nye highlights the collaboration of nature and Arabs in Jerusalem Headlines 2000, how an act of nature brought two divided groups of people to save their people.  The headlines from the unprecedented snowstorm in Jerusalem are weaved into the poem speaking for themselves while Nye adds deep artistic and contemplative text further delving into the complexity of nature and human nature.

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Section 2: The Tray & Trenches and Moats and Mounds of Dirt

The poem The Tray (p.105) is a short little poem.  It’s almost like its explaining what the phrase “every cloud has a silver lining”, that whatever goes on in the day whether it be displeasing or distressing that there are still those little highlights of the day.  Even if that one highlight is sitting down and spending time with people, no matter their own history, or their people’s history, is.  Nobody needs to talk for you to feel a connection with others, just sharing a nice peaceful moment is enough to create a pleasant memory.

The other poem Trenches and Moats and Mounds of Dirt (p. 117) is possibly twice the length of The Tray, but holds just as much meaning.  At first it describes a changed and ruined land, “…a bird rises from the cloth to fly in circles over a scene she does not recognize.  Where is her nesting place, the safe slot between branches?”  This passage may not represent displaced animals but also the displaced Palestinians.  Some people lose their families in a matter in minutes, it is a  saddening fact and worse is that it doesn’t just happen in the Middle East.  People will always conflict with one another, usually ending in fights and wars.  There is such a language “called Mean” that I would gratefully see die (if it could).  While the ‘Mean’ language goes extinct we should all make friends in the least expected of places, making the chances of fighting die of with each friendship that we forge.

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Red Brocad & They Dropped It

Passage from Introduction:

"She wanted people to worship in whatever way they felt comfortable.  To respect one another, sit together around the fire cracking almonds and drinking tea, and never forget to laugh, no matter what horrible things they had been through." (xvii-xviii)

  Nye brings a sense of calm to my thoughts of the Middle East when reading her poems.  I stopped after Red Brocad to contemplate what I had just read.  Post 9/11, many Americans are led to believe that the Middle East is full of people who hate and ridden with terror everyday.  Nye's statement that Arabs use to say to allow a stranger in you home for three days shifted my mind completely out of all stereotypes I am bombarded with.  I pictured and Arab family, Mom, Dad, Children, become great acquaintances with a stranger.  No one was judgmental, ignorant to the stranger's background.  "I refuse to be claimed," really jumped out at me (41).  I live in a country where time is everything and an Arab-American woman is challenging my conceptions about being so scheduled.  

   The author also challenge's people to deconstruct this image of a terror ridden Middle East with her poem, They Dropped It.  There is this idea that one's age, class, or any characteristic can stop one from recognizing and appreciating the beauty nature gives us.  There is a question posed, "Who deserves flowers more? Rich people who never came outside or children stuck all day in school" (83)?  In the end of the poem, the one who enjoys the flowers the most remains ambiguous other than the fact that home is across a sea.  Someone is able to stop and appreciate something that is overlooked by most.  Maybe Nye is referring to herself, appreciating something because she is far away from the source of her culture.

   Both bring this sense of calm and appreciation for people when thinking about the Middle East.  She wrote about the controversy that 9/11 has brought about Arab people in her introduction and refers to 9/11 in poems.  Her Grandmother's morals of acceptance in all comes through in these two poems.  There is challenge to readers to think about judgement and refrain from it.  If you refrain from it you may have something great to appreciate.

Section 2: "19 Varieties of Gazelle" & "Footfall"

19 Varieties of Gazelle and Footfall are both very unique and similar poems because of the use of animals. Both poems depict the animals (gazelles and turtles) in a positive light. Both of the “voices” in the poems speak of how beautiful the animals are and how unique and different they are compared to humans. In 19 Varieties of Gazelle, the gazelle is depicted as a graceful and quiet animal and is even described as a “Gentile gazelle, dipping her head, into a pool of silver grass” (89). The reader is made to think that the observers in the poem are in awe of the gazelle and say that there is “Nothing better than 19 varieties of gazelle” (88).  In Footfall, the turtle is also appreciated but for different reasons. The people that live in the same area as the turtle try and show the animal the upmost respect and consideration. The turtle is sensitive and “She feels your footfall” (114). This footfall makes the residents take their time and slows their movements so as to not disturb the animal and they “…tiptoe through her yard” (115). Even with the tiptoeing, the turtle is still timid and scared.

This makes me wonder why animals are used so often in the poems? Do certain animals mean or symbolize different aspects of the culture? Are the animals trying to tell the reader of the poems something? Lastly, why is the turtle in Footfall so scared and uneasy?

Lost Children: "Biography of an Armenian Schoolgirl" & "For Mohammed On The Mountain"

These two poems were of particular interest to me because they both featured children that are wise beyond their years. In the first poem, a young school girl is trying to make sense of the world around her and her culture. She does not understand why she is being taught certain subjects in school and specifically raises questions about marriage when she says “How will I sleep with him, I who have never slept away from my mother?” (11). The girl has a wonderful imagination and pictures a different life for herself but is never able to achieve it because she is suppressed due to her culture which is seen as she writes on her tablet. “There is something else we were born for. I almost remember it. While I write, a ghost writes on the same tablet, achieves a different sum” (13). Her culture will always have an impact on how she acts, presents herself, and thinks.

The second poem is similar but different in a few specific ways. It features a young boy whom also has a lot of questions in regard to his culture, specifically his religion. He is continually questioning his father about Mohammad and asks such questions as “But why did he go to the mountain? What happened to him?” (25). The boy also starts to question his faith when things are not going well with little sign of improvement. He asks Mohammad, “Are you angry with us? Do you think my father forgot you?” (27).  At the end of the poem, we learn that despite having so many questions and possible doubt about his religion and culture, the boy still continues to believe. He even wishes to one day to be united with his friends on the mountain with Mohammad (29).

While the boy in this poem questions his religion, the girl in the first poem questions her education and her roles as a woman. This is what makes the two poems so different and interesting. Due to the different gender roles in the cultures, the boy and the young girl concern themselves with two different aspects of their culture. In this way they are lost and both are trying to figure out where they stand and what their place in this world is going to be. Since they are of different genders, their answers to these questions will be different. They may never find the answers they are looking for but they both seem rather determined to keep searching.

Powerfull Passage

"I dedicate these poems of my life to the wise grandmothers and to the young readers in whom I have always placed my best faith. If grandmothers and children were in charge of the world, there would never be any wars" (xviii).

19 Varieties of Gazelle: My Father and the Figtree & Passing the Refugee Camp

My Father and the Figtree is a more simple and lighthearted poem compared to the others in Section 1 of the book.  The poem has a specific subject a father and his obsession with fig trees.  In the poem you can also identify a mother character along with the person telling the ‘story’.  The dialogue is actually in quotations in the poem, which is formatted into four block paragraphs.  I like this poem simply because it is a nice poem recalling happy memories, it actually made me laugh; “ ‘Plant one!” my mother said, but my father never did.  He tended garden half-heartedly, forgot to water, let the okra get too big. ‘What a dreamer he is.  Look how many things he starts and doesn’t finish.’”  Both the first and second comments that the mother makes were the things that I laughed at.  The second comment, about what a dreamer he is, was funny to me because it was so true, people can really be like that in real life.

Passing the Refugee Camp was written in a different, darker light than My Father and the Figtree.  The paragraphs made of only two lines (with the exception of two paragraphs) make the words stand out more and make them more profound. “In suits the color of olive trees soldiers stand and stand.” (p. 30) The simple description of the soldiers was enough to create a strong image in my mind.  This poem isn’t about any one person, but more about a feeling, something a group of people had to go through.

Breath, Eyes, Memory: Character Use

Every time a new character comes into the story, I find myself taking note of a lot of things.  Like what I picture them to look like, remembering their name, who their family is and what their relation is to the main character.  After getting well into a book I occasionally start to get confused and wonder if these new characters are necessary for the story to move along.  For example I had thought of this when Eliab was introduced.  When Eliab is introduced on page 121 it is halfway through the book.  I had begun to question the importance of this character and why Edwidge Danticat had put Eliab in.  But then later in the story I realized the use of Eliab.

The kite boy Eliab reflected upon Sophie’s story thus far.  When Eliab is first introduced he is attempting to fly his kite (p.96).  Later in the book, shortly after Sophie learns of his name he gets his kite into the air, but it gets cut down by another.  He ends up breaking down and crying at the loss of his kite (p.130).  Elaib’s little story reflects Sophie’s story arc so far: She wasn’t faring well with her relationship with Joseph at home along with her now non-existent relationship with her mother.  Then she talks with her grandmother about her troubles with Joseph.  Then as things are starting to look up, problems arise one again. 

Every character has a purpose to help move along the story and help the other characters through the lines in their arcs.  It is fun to create different characters, but they all contribute to the story.

Breath, Eyes, Memory: Ou Libere

Sophie's attack on the cane field was only given less than one page but it meant so much that it could not be put into more words.  There was so much emotion involved, too much to even understand no matter how in-depth she went.  The only thing in this section is the physical actions and vocal response from her grandmother and Tante Atie.  No emotion at all is written.  The reader is left to bring about the emotions in themselves.  Her mother is free from suffering and now it is Sophie's time to do the same on the same day as her mother's funeral.  

Her grandmother's response, as she has established, tells the reader that she knows what is happening.  She prevents the priest from stepping in and reacts like she is in the market.  "From where she was standing, my grandmother shouted like the woman form the market place, "Ou libere?" Are you free" (233).  Her grandmother knows what Sophie is doing is right.  How long has she know that this is what she needed to do?

Breath, Eyes, Memory: Mothers and Testing

A particular paragraph in chapter 31 left me with a lot to think about. In the middle of page 203 Sophie makes a comment about how it is "...up to me to make sure that my daughter never slept with ghosts"(203). This was of such high interest to me because this isn't exactly a thought process seen by the other females in her family. Although none of the women in their culture liked being tested as young girls they still continued to test their own daughters. When Sophie asked her mother and her grandmother why such a test has been carried down through the generations she always gets left with the same answers; it is something that they have always done and continue to do with their own daughters. If testing is a ritual that all of the girls despise of so much it is hard to understand why then it continues to happen. Furthermore, it seems really nice that Sophie does not want to put her daughter through the same test that she had to go through but what makes Sophie think that she won't test her daughter? When Sophie's mother was being tested as a young girl she may have thought the same things about when she had a daughter of her own (she may have thought she would never test her daughter). Even though Sophie thinks she won't test her daughter now what makes her think that she won't change her mind when her daughter hits puberty?

Breath, Eyes, Memory: the music of Joseph

     The curiosity brought on to Joseph is not only just his self, but his profession. Jazz music is soulful and beautiful. Jazz also has a rich history to it. It was born in the south and was created through a mixture of different musical styles. It started out with a small audience but grew in the public eyes after some time. In a way, you can see Sophie’s story (thus far) in Jazz’s own history. She’s just come out into the world that had existed and flourished without her, and now she just needs to find her place. That place ends up being at Joseph’s side. At the beginning and slow start to their relationship, Sophie could be with Joseph through the sound of his music, "I spent the whole week with my ear pressed against the wall, listening to him rehearse…Sometimes at night, the saxophone was like a soothing lullaby." (P71)

     Joseph’s occupation, may not have originally written to be viewed in this way, but I saw it and wonder not only of Sophie’s future but what else there may be to find in the rest of the story.

Breath, Eyes, Memory: a reminder of why they left home

Sophie's first night with her mother in New York embedded in her mind why she had to move there rather than staying in Haiti as she desired.  She seemed to understand Martine's nightmare, "screaming as though someone were trying to kill her" (48).  Her nearly nonchalant reaction to the chaos occurring outside the airport gave us an understanding that it is not unusual for her to witness such activity.  When she heard her mother screaming she knew how to help her, with Tante Atie's remedy consisting of tea and by climbing in bed.  Most Westernized young females would not know how to react to such a horrifying reaction to a nightmare.

This small section at the end of chapter six, I believe, was included to explain to the reader that even though Sophie and Martine have escaped the turmoil in Haiti they will still always have those memories to haunt them.  Martine will especially be forever haunted by her Haitian memories because, as readers find out, she was impregnated by a rapist in a cane field.  Memories and trauma such as that can always stick with a person, no matter how far away they get.  It also exemplifies the reason why she worked so hard to get her own child out of Haiti.  There is still political turmoil occurring as Sophie is leaving which means can mean the same route as Martine unwillingly was led down.

There is a large emphasis on Sophie's sex.  Her mother is trying to protect her from rape and lack of educational opportunities.  What if Martine had a boy?  Would she have migrated to the United States for a son?

-Chase Sheaff

Daffodils in "Breath, Eyes, Memory"

The daffodil is a flower that is mentioned rather frequently in Breath, Eyes, Memory. The daffodil is mentioned on the very first page of the novel and is mentioned several times in subsequent chapters throughout the first and second parts of the book. The daffodil is not only important to the main character Sophie but also to other characters including her biological mother in New York, and her Aunt Atie whom is her primary caregiver. The flower is also very popular in the island of Haiti where it thrives. The daffodil has a particularly special meaning to Sophie and is quite symbolic in regards to her life story up through part two of the novel.

Sophie likes the daffodil for its beauty and also for the memories that are associated with the daffodils. The flower grows quite well in Haiti and is a favorite among the natives. Not only is the daffodil a flower that is beautiful to look at, but also the daffodil reminds her of home. Home to Sophie is in Haiti with her Aunt whom has raised her until the age of twelve. When Sophie thinks of her Aunt she thinks of the daffodil which is why she decided to use it as decoration for the cover of a mother's day card that she had made. When Sophie thinks of home she pictures it with her aunt Atie who "...is a daffodil...iron strong" (29).

Little does Sophie realize she also is a daffodil. Aunt Atie tells Sophie that the reason Sophie's mother liked daffodils so much was because they weren't supposed to be found in Haiti; they were brought over from Europe (21). Sophie, like the daffodil, is brought into a foreign place against her will; a place that she does not consider to be her home. Despite feeling like she does not belong, she thrives in her new home. She goes to school and gets great grades and starts attending college. A success that may not have been possible for her if she had stayed in Haiti. In this respect, Sophie like the daffodil is uprooted from where she considers home to a new place but still manages to thrive even when she (like the daffodil) feels as though this is not her home and where she belongs. In this regard Sophie and the daffodils of Haiti alike.