Nineteen Thirty-Seven: A Short Story

The first story that explores the fear society has of certain women is “Nineteen Thirty-Seven.” In

the story Nineteen Thirty-Seven, Josephine a young haitian girl, whose mother was captured

and thrown in prison because she was accused of being a witch. Women are portrayed as

wicked and evil. For example, “ ‘And before the women went to sleep the guards made them

throw tin cups of cold water at one another so that their bodies would not be able to muster up

enough heat to grow those wings made of flames, fly away in the middle of the night, slip into

the slumber of innocent children and their breath.’ (Danticat 37-38)” This quote shows that the

guards are scared of these imprisoned women because they fear that these women might fly

out

But in reality, they are just afraid of these women and are accusing innocent women that

might seem like they’re doing something satanic. By doing this, it weakens the women so they

could have power.

My second story that explores the fear society has of certain women is “Children of the

Sea.” In this story, two lovers writing letters to each other telling each other their stories. The

male is on a boat with 36 others dying. The woman is writing about her despair about where she

is living, bullets on the streets and hiding from macoutes. Her father doesn’t approve of the man

she is writing about. In this story, women are portrayed as helpless being. They are raped and

treated as a tool more than a person. One woman in this story was raped and was on a boat.

When she delivered her baby, her baby died. So, in despair, she threw her dead baby off the

boat and herself. But some women seem to have hope and anger. For example, " ‘if i knew

some wanga magic, i would wipe them off the face of the earth.’ (Danticat 7)” Soldiers were

scared of these women with such hatred and anger because they are afraid of what they will do

to rebel. So instead, soldiers portray women like these as witches so they weaken their