A Legacy of Violence and Trauma in the Diasporic Literature from Hispaniola

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the novels Geographies of Home (1999), written by the Dominican-American novelist Loida Maritza Pérez, and Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994), by Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian-American writer. Both novels deal with Caribbean families that migrate to the United States, primarily for economic and political reasons. In both novels, main characters are victims of sexual abuse. In Geographies of Home, Marina is raped by a black astrologer and ends up violating her sister Iliana. In Breath, Eyes, Memory, Martine is violated by her mother through virginity tests that end when Martine is raped by a member of the Dictator François Duvalier s private army. However, despite resenting the testing practice, Martine repeats it when her daughter Sophie grows up. As diasporic subjects, these characters are influenced both by their places of origin and the culture of the host nation. Thus, I analyze the historical and political background of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. I also discuss the motivations that led to the rapes portrayed in the novels, and I explore the physical and psychological consequences of the traumatic memories caused by sexual violence. I also explore the connection between violence directed towards the bodies of female characters and the violence perpetrated against the nation