Racism
The entire novel centers around the theme of racism/prejudice, as the Parsley Massacre was a racially charged event. Danticat briefly touches upon the history of the island of Hispaniola, but never goes into detail over the history of racial relations between Haitians and Dominicans. Rather, the theme of racism is understood from the perspective of the ethnic Haitian Amabelle, who has lived and worked amongst Dominicans for years without issues, but suddenly her world is turned upside down. Simply for the color of her skin, she is forced from a life she liked living, parted from her boyfriend, and forced to undergo a treacherous journey. In this regard, Danticat does not address the racist attitudes themselves, but rather the fallout from them.
Tyranny
The pain and suffering of Haitians at the hands of Dominican forces came about because it was ordered from Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. Danticat never directly introduces Trujillo as a character, rather allowing his influence to permeate through the novel. Amabelle witnesses the admiration of Trujillo from Señor Pico and later travels through a town along the border where she is attacked by a fervent Dominican crowd. As evidenced throughout the novel, Trujillo’s tyrannical rule led to him having the ability authorize and demand the slaughter of Haitians at a whim, a power that Danticat decries.
Loss
One of the novel’s central themes is that of loss. Amabelle experiences tremendous amounts of pain and suffering due to losing loved ones. The harrowing experience of losing her parents to a drowning in front of her eyes scars her from a young age. Things look up for her, though, as she is happily in a relationship with Sebastien and is also happy with her work. However, she is quick to lose the life she was enjoying living, as she is forced out of her home, and Sebastien is murdered. Other characters feel loss too, such as Señora Valencia losing Rafi, and Kongo losing Joel. Throughout the novel, Amabelle feels this lost most heavily.
Perseverance
A very important theme to Danticat is that of perseverance. Amabelle suffers the many aforementioned losses, but yet she continues to trudge through it all, pausing along the way to remember what she has lost but still continuing to fight. It is repeatedly emphasized how Amabelle felt like giving up at multiple points through the novel, how she felt like throwing herself in a river or off a cliff, but she fought through. She survives a brutal beating and escapes Dominican persecution all to flock to a Haiti where nothing is the same for her. Amabelle’s admirable spirit considering her many trials is what models the theme of perseverance.
Colonialism
Although it may be a subtle theme, a distaste for colonialism is important to the namesake of the novel. The reason so many Haitians resided in the Dominican Republic to begin with was because they worked in the sugarcane fields, grueling, awful work that gained the moniker of ‘the farming of bones’. The many Haitians that worked in this field knew that their hard work was all to line the pockets of wealthy American companies, as in one part of the novel, the workers disparage the ‘Yankís’ (Yankees).
