Breath, Eyes, Memory (Chpts. 13-20)

Breath, Eyes, Memory
By: Edwidge Danticat
Pages: 93-133

• Summary

Part 3

Sophie returns to Haiti. With her is a baby girl named Brigitte. When she arrives she meets Tante Atie and goes back to her grandmother's home. Tante Atie has finally started to learn to write.

Sophie tells Tante Atie how Martine doesn't respond to any of her letters or phone calls.

In Haiti there are a lot of conflicts in Grandma Ife's home. Grandma doesn't like Tante Atie's best friend Louis. Also she doesn't like the way Atie has been acting ever since she moved to take care of her mother. Grandma feels if Atie is here to take care of her it should be because she wants to and not because Atie feels that it's her responsibility and has to do it.

Sophie talks about her marriage with her grandmother. Sophie left Providence as short vacation. She has been scared by the testings and because of it has become ashamed of her body. This causes her to not be able to perform with her husband. She has come to Haiti because she feels she should be somewhere on her own.

Grandma Ife and Atie receives a tape from Martine. The talked about the usual things, how things were going with herself. Martine then tell them about Joseph being worried about Sophie because he got home and didn't find her or Brigitte there.

• Quotation

" "I am empty, old woman," she said. "As empty as a dry calabash" (Danticat 126).

• Reaction

Tante Atie said this when Grandma Ife asked her to read something out of her notebook. I think what Atie said has a double meaning. After Sophie left her she didn't really have nothing to live for and she felt alone in the world. Because of that, she feels like her grandma's life is a burden to her because she feels forced to take care of her mother. So since Atie's feeling of having nothing to live for is the same as her being empty like she has nothing. When reading I felt bad for Sophie because she was going through a really tough time. It wis hard for her to forget what her mother did to her.