Lives of Uncertainty in the Farming of Bones

Introduction

The Farming of Bones is about love, self-esteem, vulnerability, barbarity, remembrance, and accomplishment possible for the victimized to undergo. This is the story of 1937, at the Dominican side of the border in Haiti. A girl named Amabelle was orphaned when she was eight years of age because her parents downed. She grew in the household where she is served as a faithful maid to the wife of a colonel in the army. Sebastien is a peripatetic sugarcane cutter and is a field hand. All of them are Haitians but are not much welcome by the Dominicans although they are useful to them. Rumors have also spread with regards to the Haitians who were being persecuted and killed. Amabelle loves Sebastien, who is handsome but has scars on his face because of the sugar cane and his hands are calloused. She wants to become his wife and spend her life with him in the future; however, terror enfolds them and the fate changes.

The author, Edwidge Danticat was born in 1969 in Haiti. The parents of the writer had immigrated to New York when she was a child; however, she and her brother stayed in Haiti, and were raised by an aunt and uncle. However, she moved to Brooklyn to live with her parents when she was twelve years of age. She began writing since the time she was a teenager and received a degree from Barnard College in French literature also acquired an MFA from Brown University. She has written many books one of which is a Haitian story, “The Farming of Bones” which was written in 1999 and was a National Book Award finalist.

Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival

With regards to the literary canons, the Caribbean women writers have been overlooked because of their race, gender and their ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, the scholars of Caribbean women's literature, which include Carole Boyce Davies have said that these writers must be included, and they should not be underrepresented in literacy writing. It has also been argued by the critics that the literature that has been written by the Caribbean women expands conceptualizations not just with relation to the race, class, and gender, but also traditions, homeland, and movement.

In the book, the author has discussed the literary and critical representations of the women who are black and the writing of the Caribbean women. A new framework has been provided that explores the writings of the Caribbean women. Moreover, it signifies adversity and transcendence from marginalization which is based on race, gender and the environment of the place where migration takes place. The main strengths of the book are “sucking salt” that has been rendered, and this complements the theoretical significance. The notes that have been written by the writer demonstrate the hardships because of bitterness and the incapability to fulfill nourishment when food is not available. Besides this, it also shows connotations with regards to migrations as well as the enslavement of the people ...