Breath, Eyes, Memory

“‘His father died in that fire out front. His father was some kind of old government official, très corrupt,’ she whispered. ‘Très guilty of crimes against the people.’”

This description of the father of the boy who sits next to Sophie on the plane adds historical context to Sophie’s private experience. He is part of the “old government,” meaning the Duvalier regime (See: Background), and was murdered because of his participation in corruption. The novel therefore takes place shortly after the Duvalier regime is overthrown, in the massive upheaval of his government and its corruption.

“The girl lost her nerve. She lost her fight. You should have seen us when we were young. We always dreamt of becoming important women.”

Martine is speaking to Sophie about her Tante Atie, saying that she lost her motivation to be something successful and has not done what she desired with her life. However, ironically, Martine fails to recognize that the main reason for this is because Martine left Sophie in Haiti to be cared for by Atie. This shows Martine’s inability to grasp what Atie sacrificed to raise Martine’s child.

“If you make something of yourself in life, we will all succeed. You can raise our heads.”

Martine has devoted her life to paying for Sophie in Haiti, and then bringing her to New York to start a life that will be more successful. However, she also places pressure on Sophie, tasking her with bringing pride to their entire family through her hard work and success.

“I will be fine. I always am. The nightmares, they come and go.”

Although Martine assures Sophie that she is fine, it quickly becomes clear that this is far from the truth. She suffers from nightmares throughout the rest of the novel, and they become increasingly violent. Additionally, her assurance that she is “always” fine foreshadows that her trauma will become too much for her to handle in the text, ending in her suicide.

“‘Never the Americans in Haiti again,’ shouted one man. ‘Remember what they did in the twenties. They treated our people like animals [and] made us work like slaves.’”

Haiti was under US military occupation from 1915 to 1934. Though the US claimed to be interested only in preserving the stability of the region, the military presence bore striking similarities to the abuses of French colonialism. On December 6, 1929, US Marines opened fire on a crowd of Haitian demonstrators, wounding 23 and killing 12. This quote shows why, even in times of great political and economic turmoil, many Haitians are reluctant to accept US and international intervention.

“I spent the days in the lounge watching a soap opera while an old black lady taught me how to knit a scarf.”

In the beginning of the novel, Sophie is eager to learn how to knit from her aunt, as this is a ritual that mothers pass on to their daughters and it is important to Sophie to learn from her. However, upon arriving in New York, she learns from a random woman while waiting for her mom at work. This leaves her feeling abandoned by her mother once again.

“Your Tante Atie hated it. She used to scream like a pig in a slaughterhouse.”

This simile, comparing Atie’s trauma over the virginity “testing” to a pig being slaughtered, shows Martine’s lack of understanding of the trauma that something like this can cause, foreshadowing her willingness to do the same to Sophie.

“But now when I look at your face I think it is true what they say. A child out of wedlock always looks like its father.”

This quote shows the complicated relationship between Sophie and her mother, given that she is a child of rape. It also shows the internal conflict that Martine is struggling with: She loves and cares for her daughter, yet is reminded of the violence and trauma she experienced in order to give her life.

“Tante Atie once said that love is like rain. It comes in a drizzle sometimes. Then it starts pouring and if you’re not careful it will drown you.”

This simile compares love to rain in the way that it starts slow, but then quickly turns into a downpour and overwhelms you. When Tante Atie told Sophie this, she was likely speaking of her love for Monsieur Augustin, which overwhelms her at night as she watches him through the window because she cannot be with him.

“‘Go,’ she said with tears running down her face. She seized my books and clothes and threw them at me. ‘You just go to him and see what he can do for you.’”

The irony of the situation with Sophie and her mother’s “testing” is that her mother is checking her virginity, allegedly, to protect her from men and keep her innocent out of care for her. However, she then forces her out of her home at the age of 18, leaving her with only the man to turn to—thereby bringing about the very thing she was trying to prevent. This reveals that the “testing” was less about protecting Sophie than about Martine’s own honor and dignity; she does not care that Sophie will now be endangered and living with a stranger, only that her purity is no longer intact which could bring her mother disgrace.

“‘Is it so easy to forget?’

‘Some people need to forget.’

‘Obviously, you do not need to forget,’ he said.

‘I need to remember.’”

In speaking with the van driver, Sophie states that perhaps people forget how to speak Creole while they are gone, to which the driver questions whether it is that easy. This speaks to the idea of cultural amnesia—where people elect to forget the parts of their history that are violent or uncomfortable, as her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother have done with their own trauma. It also shows Sophie’s unwillingness to be part of this practice, as she is there not to pretend her past and her trauma do not exist, but instead to face them head on.

“Isn’t it a miracle that we can visit with all our kin, simply by looking into this face?”

Grandma Ifé notes how much Brigitte looks like the rest of the Caco family. Sophie will do her best to ensure that Brigitte does not experience the same history of trauma that she and the rest of her “kin” experienced.

“I almost refused to let Joseph take pictures of me with her. I was too ashamed of the stiches on my stomach and the flabs of fat all over my body.”

This passing reference to Sophie’s body shame reveals a deep discomfort with her own body. It is the beginning of her revelations about the lasting effects that her “testing” had on her: shame in her body, inability to have sex with her husband, night terrors, bulimia, and more.

“Joseph asked me several times if I really wanted to go through with it. He probably would have understood if I had said no. However, I felt it was my duty as a wife. Something I owed to him, now that he was the only person in the world watching over me.”

After their marriage, Sophie feels that it is her duty to have sex with Joseph, even though she is deeply troubled by it. This reflects her internal conflict of duty versus desire, and mirrors the conflict that Atie undergoes as she first gives up her life to care for Sophie and then Ifé.

“They poke at your panties in the middle of the night, to see if you are still whole. They listen when you pee, to find out if you’re peeing too loud. If you pee loud, it means you’ve got big spaces between your legs. They make you burn your fingers learning to cook. Then still you have nothing.”

This quote shows the characterization of Atie in her current state of despair and hopelessness. She has suffered in her life at the hands of her mother in the name of “purity” and “duty” in order to make a man happy, yet all it leads to is unfulfillment and trauma as they are forced into the roles of wifehood and motherhood.

“If it is a boy, the lantern will be put outside the shack. If there is a man, he will stay awake all night with the new child. […] If it is a girl, the midwife will cut the child’s cord and go home. Only the mother will be left in the darkness to hold her child.”

As Ifé tells Sophie of childbirth in Haiti, it becomes clear that the suffering of women is not unique to the Caco family and is instead deeply rooted in Haitian culture. If a boy is born, his birth is celebrated and the child is cared for throughout the night by a father. Conversely, if a girl is born, she is quickly abandoned and left with only her mother.

“Our family name, Caco, it is the name of a scarlet bird. A bird so crimson, it makes the reddest hibiscus or the brightest flame trees seem white.”

The fact that Sophie’s family name, Caco, is after a red bird symbolizes the violence, blood, and trauma that they experience through generations of family.

“‘My heart, it weeps like a river,’ she said ‘for the pain we have caused you.’”

This simile—comparing Grandma Ifé’s pain and tears to a river—is the first time she admits that she regrets the virginity “testing.” In this same discussion, she attempts to defend the “testing” by saying it was for the child’s own good, but then she quickly backtracks and admits that there is no defense against the pain and trauma that has been inflicted on generations of women in Haiti.

“My mother’s skin was unusually light, a pale mocha, three or four shades lighter than any of ours.”

It becomes clear to Sophie when she sees her mother for the first time in years that she has continued to try to lighten her skin—a practice that many women of color would undergo in the past to conform to racist beauty standards.

“I looked up at the murals on the high airport ceiling once more. The paintings of Haitian men and women selling beans, pulling carts, and looking very happy at their toil.”

The juxtaposition of the words “happy” and “toil” shows the irony of the image being presented to the people who visit Haiti. Rather than showing the violence and suffering the people of Haiti are experiencing, it presents the Haitian people as happy to live their difficult lives for the sake of creating a welcoming, guilt-free setting for tourists.

“‘You were very good,’ he said.

‘I kept my eyes closed so the tears wouldn’t slip out.’”

Despite repeatedly reassuring Sophie that he did not mind waiting to have sex, he still has sex with her even while she emotionally detaches from the situation. Not only does he not notice, but he also tells her she was “very good,” and seems unaffected by her response that she was trying not to cry. This shows Joseph’s inability to truly understand what Sophie has been going through, and also lends a deeper understanding to Sophie’s feelings that she needs to sleep with Joseph to make him happy and so he will not abandon her.

“How does it make you feel knowing that she slept with someone? Don’t you feel betrayed that after all these years, she does the very thing that she didn’t want you to do?”

Sophie’s therapist calls attention to the irony of Martine’s pregnancy. She violated and abused Sophie in an effort to keep her “pure” before marriage, yet sleeps with Marc and becomes pregnant without marrying him.

“It has to become frighteningly real before it can fade.”

This comment by Sophie’s therapist summarizes the theme of trauma in the text. In order to overcome trauma, one must confront and even relive it. However, this is also what makes trauma so difficult, because many people—like Martine and Atie—do not have the strength to do so.