The American Dream

Many immigrants have moved to America to escape harsh conditions that they faced in their home country. These immigrants have gone through long and very selective processes of applying for a visa to be able to move to America. For Sophie in Breath, Eyes, Memory, this was not the case. Instead, she suffered greatly in America. Sophie did not want to move to America because for her it meant leaving all of her loved ones behind. In America, she suffered from the weekly “check-ins” that her mother would perform on her by invading her body to ensure she was still “sexually pure.” For Sophie, America was where she experienced her toughest moments. Sophie suffered from Bulimia because she wasn't able to healthily adjust from only having enough food to survive on in Haiti, to the surplus of available cheap and fattening food in America. Sophie’s mother did not think that Sophie’s eating disorder was a serious problem and thought that it was foolish. “‘I want to give you some advice. Eat. Food is good for you. It is a luxury. When I just came to this country I gained sixty pounds my first year. I couldn't believe all the different kinds of apples and ice cream. All the things that only the rich eat in Haiti, everyone could eat them here, dirt cheap”’ (181). Martine could not fathom that anyone would starve themselves on purpose because in Haiti it was the reality for most people. Some people simply did not have enough money to pay for their dinner and especially not something as luxurious as dessert, which can be bought for such little money in America. Sophie suffered from a disease that not only her mother diminished, but one that she did not understand. 

The American Dream restores hope in immigrants in that if you are willing to work hard, you can make it. It does not matter your race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. However, for Sophie, America was not the “land of hope,” it was the land of suffering. In America, she did not feel the hope and dreams that other immigrants felt, her mental state was broken apart by the sexually invasive procedures she endured, her eating disorder, depression, and the death of her mother. 

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