Hope In Edwidge Danticat's Krik? Krak

In the novel Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat, there are many meaningful themes, motifs and symbols included in each of the nine stories. In many of the stories, hope is a recurring theme. In Danticat’s novel, she uses the theme of hope to shine light on the futility of hope. Hopeless situations are driven by expectations that what is hoped for can be realized. Unfortunately, hope drives people to believe something better will happen when in reality it is not possible. In the story “Night Women”, hope is a tremendous theme throughout. In this story, the narrator invents a scenario about an angel who will come and save her son. The narrator does it not only for her son, but for herself in order to forget the brutal reality of their life as it is. “I tell him that we are expecting a sweet angel and where angels tread the hosts must be as beautiful as

Marie’s stillborn child was so wanted by her the hope for a living and healthy baby clouded her ability to accept that the baby is dead. “I watched her skin grow moist, cracked, and sunken in some places, then ashy and dry in others” Marie’s hope for a child causes her to ignore these signs of death. Her delusional belief that her stillborn baby is real and living causes her to care for the dead baby as it decays. Marie’s hope leads to the fantasy and optimism that is ultimately her end. Some might think this hope is good because she wants to believe that her baby is alive, but it is mentally unhealthy for Marie to continue to care for a baby who is not living. The way this quote phrases how Marie talks about the baby proves to the reader that the child is either unhealthy or dead. The reason for this is to show that the baby is the only hope that Marie had to hold on to since the tragedies of life in Haiti seemed to be all consuming. This one hope for herself of a living child made Marie’s life