In Edwidge Danticat’s short story ” In the Old Days,” she successfully portrayed the complexity of each character in the historical context of the aftermath of the Haitian Dictatorship. As a reader, we feel sympathy for each character yet we also think the characters were selfish for the decisions they make. The narrator’s mother chose to stay in America to provide a better life for the narrator. She chooses her daughter over a country that needs dire help. Yet, I thought that her choice was justified because how then will the narrator have a mother who is there in her life. I was also glad that Danticat did not write a short story where the remarried wife is a jealous and resentful woman but one who is actually very understanding. Throughout the story, she guided the narrator in her process to come to terms with her father’s death. Overall, the story showed the brokenness and imperfection of each character but it is also a story about reconciliation and forgiveness in order to move on.
Hello Yingrong,
I also liked that the author decided to make the remarried wife such a kind and understanding character. At first, I found it weird that she was prolonging the time before Nadia could see her father, but then I realized that she was trying her best to tell Nadia the bad news. Additionally, I feel like part of her wanted to know a lot more about Nadia and spend as much time as she could with her before leaving and never seeing her again.
I think the way in which she was beating around the bush to tell her what had happened was good in that she prepared Nadia since she was not sure what her reaction would be. She may have been angry that she made her go all the way to seem him after he was dead, but seeing him dead may have given her the closure that she needed to know that he was a good man.