The Past is Inescapable
In the novel Breath, Eyes, Memory , written by Edwidge Danticat, the protagonist's mother, Martine, was sexually assaulted by an unknown man when she was a teenager living in Haiti. Martine became pregnant and was so haunted by her attack that she attempted to kill the fetus growing inside of her many times. The violence that she was subjected to caused her to have uncontrollable amounts of anxiety and terror during her pregnancy with Sophie.“For months, she was afraid that he would creep out of the night and kill her in her sleep. She was terrified that he would come and tear out the child growing inside her. At night, she tore her sheets and bit off pieces of her own flesh when she had nightmares” (138). The extreme fear that she carried on her shoulders after the pregnancy drove her to madness and extreme depression. Shortly after her daughter was born, Martine moved to New York on her own as an attempt to escape the trauma she had experienced at such a young age. She lef