Breath, Eyes, Memory

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussions of rape and sexual abuse.

Throughout the text, colors are used as recurring motifs to symbolize attributes of various characters.

The color yellow is largely applied to Sophie. It symbolizes strength and resilience throughout. When Sophie leaves for New York, she is wearing a yellow dress embroidered with daffodils. She also describes the daffodil as a flower that was not supposed to grow in Haiti but was brought there anyway and was forced to adapt to survive in the heat. Similarly, Sophie initially feels as though she does not belong in Haiti, but must grow and adapt to survive there. When Sophie makes a Mother’s Day card, she writes a poem about her mother being “iron strong” and places a dried daffodil inside—intending to give it to her aunt. However, when Atie refuses the card, Sophie angrily takes out the daffodil and crushes it in the dust—implying that yellow and daffodils apply only to her and Atie, and not her mother. This motif is reinforced when Sophie arrives in New York and her mother says that she “used to” love daffodils, eventually replacing all the yellow things in their house, opting for predominantly red décor.