“Many good men commit terrible acts these days.”
Beatriz speaks these words in response to Señora Valencia defending her husband, Señor Pico in regards to the rumored anti-Haitian policies being propagated by the Dominican government. Danticat utilizes this quote to demonstrate the dangers of a manipulative dictatorship and the dangers of groupthink. The powerful and cunning Trujillo certainly motivated many Dominicans to carry out atrocious acts against Haitians, whether it be out of fear, admiration, or simply in following along with the crowd. The characteristic of individuality is important to Danticat, and she strikes her point that ordinary Dominican citizens may not have questioned the massacre, but rather participated in it, due to the overwhelming group narrative.
“I will name him Rafael, for the Generalissimo.”
Danticat attempts to capture part of the Dominican attitude towards Trujillo in making Señor Pico a military man. As was the case with many other Dominicans, he not does not merely respect Trujillo, he puts him on a pedestal in a form of idolatry. Señor Valencia named her daughter, but she left the name of her son up to Pico, as it was of great importance for the father to name his son, and likewise it would mean a lot to have a child named in one’s honor. As Pico names his only son after Trujillo, in addition to other elements, such as a large painting of the general that hangs in the living room, watching over the family, the depths of Pico’s admiration and obsession become clear to the reader.
“Poor Kongo. Condolences, Kongo. Two new children came into the world while you have to put your son in the ground.”
As evidenced by her perseverance in light of many tragedies, Amabelle is not a strong believer in fate or destiny. Rather, she advocates for the value of moving forward and not trying to make sense of tragedies. Poor old Kongo’s son is killed for no other reason than Señor Pico being in a rush, and he doesn’t even care enough to stop. It is quite telling of Amabelle’s personal feelings about tragedy as she offers her condolences, but is ready to quickly move past it. Just as the death of Joel is senseless, so too was the mass-killing of Haitians, but Amabelle moves past that as well.
“We used parsley for our food, our teas, our baths, to cleanse out insides as well as our outsides. Perhaps the Generalissimo in some larger order was trying to do the same for his country.”
Amabelle speaks this after Odette dies, decrying the destruction of an essential herb to Haitian life. What held meaning in such a positive way to Amabelle turns into a bitter representation of the death and destruction of her people. As a test of whether a person was Haitian or Dominican, troops would often make the person in question say the word ‘perejil,’ Spanish for parsley, whereas the Creole pronunciation was pési. As Odette dies, she utters her final defiance of the destruction of the innocent parsley plant.
