Top 5 choices for scenes

Abby-the theme of female empowerment and an alternative ending is very intriguing
Nancy-I like the idea of exploring mother/daughter themes
Betty-The story of NYDW being told from a completely different perspective is very interesting
Sam-I'm fascinated about surreal experiences
Otherwise, I don't really have any preference as to what scene I'd be in.

Reflection on Staged Reading Quiz

Today, we finally performed a staged reading based off of the story “1937” in Krik? Krak! There was a lot of stuff I think we could’ve done better. We were definitely lacking in any real direction or purpose while making the script, and that was clearly an issue that showed in our performance, based on the post-performance comment about introducing plot threads that didn’t really show any true purpose or conclusion. I think our biggest weakness was definitely a lack of organization all around, but even with these drawbacks, I think we did relatively well. On certain fronts, such as tone while speaking or being able to perform relatively fair even with no group practice and some solo practice, we managed to do this pretty well. Aside from obvious obstacles such as surprise absences, the biggest one we encountered was probably the construction of the scene as a whole, since as a group we didn’t really get much of a chance to sit down and work on it all together like we should’ve. I think if we all were able to just get together, that would greatly improve this script as a whole, since we’d be able to find and resolve each other's mistakes.

In hindsight, I think all of these issues could be easily resolved. With just a little more organization and responsibility, we definitely could’ve easily fixed these problems.

transformation scene proposal and stuff

For my idea, I would like to adapt part of the story “A Wall of Fire Rising.” Throughout the short story, small scenes between Guy and Lili are dispersed within the text. These small scenes usually take place at nighttime, and while Danticat only wrote a few of these short events, I believe they are poignant and give the readers a few open-ended ideas on both of these characters. Therefore, I decided that my transformative scenes would be focused entirely on these nightly talks and interactions between the couple, and it would illustrate their relationship as well as Lili’s lack of awareness for her husband’s feelings in relation to her son and Guy’s increasing frustration with himself and his situation, as well as the evolution of their relationship from between before their son Little Guy was born up to the night before Guy commits suicide from the hot-air balloon.

The scenes that I mainly want to display are,

• The couple talking after discovering Lili is pregnant, and they speak with a lot of hope for their future and their child
• Then, after he is born, they talk about how they would like to proceed with their now familial life, and they’re determined to give him a good future. Guy will also have a few lines where he worries for Lili’s health and if she is still in pain or not.
• A few years later, where the story “A Wall of Fire Rising” has already started, the pair discuss the family’s future. Lili worries over Little Guy’s education while Guy believe he should write his son’s name on the list. Their original love for each other begins to show signs of wearing off, as having a child while living in stark poverty has clearly taken its’ toll on the pair.
• A little time later, the pair begin to argue over various issues of their life, the argument mainly stemming from Guy’s dissatisfaction with the situation and his inferiority complex. Lili gives a heartfelt imploration to her husband to think of their child, and how they shouldn’t wake him up with their arguing. She tries to make him take pride at how their son was praised for his line reciting, and he appears to have calmed down, but it’s clear that he feels his son has more pride than he does.
• The night after, they reconcile, and Lili appears to be pleased/happy that he isn’t as upset as last night. As she falls asleep, Guy delivers an extremely short monologue that points to his plans for the next day, where he’ll choose to commit suicide rather than continue living the life he does now. Specifically, this speech will feature themes of relief and catharsis as well as wishing his family well before concluding with him climbing into bed after the already asleep Lili.

notes on endgame

Author:

• Samuel beckett, french, regarded as the most influential writers during the 20th century, 1905-1989
• Realism was very common during his time so he instead focused on the essence of human condition, wanting love/transcendence/escape/amusement
• Spent most of his adult life in paris, worked under James Joyce, big influence
• Started writing plays only after WW2, volunteered as an ambulance driver and then worked for a makeshift hospital in Saint-Lo, a city near normandy beaches
• First play, Waiting for Godot in 1948, about two men waiting for someone who never arrives, people didn't know how to receive it because it wasn't a traditional play but was still very captivating, and then became a classic
• Endgame is his favorite and considered to be his best, about a man who can't see or walk and a man who can see but can't sit. His experiences of caring for his dead brother/mother and WW2 are influences, and its’ reception was the same as Godot.
• “Everything [in Endgame] is based on analogy and repetition.”

Plot theme:

• Hamm, Clov, Nagg, and Nell are four people living in a bare room where they look out at an apocalyptic landscape. Hamm is blind and cannot walk, Clov can’t sit, and Nagg/Nell live in little boxes like Oscar from Sesame Street except more depressed and existential.
• A mix of comedy/tragedy/despair/humanity, there isn’t really a plot but instead themes of the characters dealing with ‘Well there isn’t a world anymore so what do we do now?’ and also power dynamics between Hamm and his box-parents and Hamm and his son-servant guy.
• Also Clov seems to want to leave Hamm for dead since Hamm treats him like crap (and everyone else)

Theatre style:

• The Sumner is an arch theatre with a peculiar setup. The size of the stage allows the set to give off the feeling of an otherly world where our characters reside only within a tiny bunker in the unfamiliar place

quiz 3 script

Settings: In the Jail

Characters:

Mother (Fire Wings)

• Kat

Daughter (Josephine),

• Kathleen

Guard

• Abby

Random Lady (also in prison)

• Kathleen

Lines:

Guard: *shouts* LET HER IN (chucks water at mother)

Mother: Idk why I am here. I did NOTHING wrong

Guard: Shut your mouth, be thankful, we are even allowing you to see anyone. You have five minutes

Daughter: *comes rushing in* mother what is going on, are you ok

Mother: I am fine, but I need you to deliver this letter to your father as soon as you leave. I need him to understand.

Daughter: Understand what mom?

Mother: *coughs* I need him to understand Why I was put in this hell hole *Gives the letter*

Daughter: *sighs* Mom, he doesn't blame you..Its not your…

Mother: Hush up… and do as I say.

Guard: Alright, times up *turns to the daughter* Say goodbye

Daughter: *says under her breath* I don't need to say goodbye.. I'll see her soon.  *turns around and marches out*

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Random Lady* Starts picking at the concrete wall with sharp object*

Guard: WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING

Random Lady *Gasps, and covers her face*

Guard: You’ll regret that *raises hand to hit her*

Mother: *Comes running in* NO STOP PLEASE!! You can't hurt her

Guard: Oh really, and WHO ARE YOU TO SAY I CAN'T!

Mother: you can't hit her Because, *long pause* I am the one who told her too. I was trying to escape from hell hole, so i asked her to do so. It's not her fault, I take full responsibility.

Guard: *Looks at rondom girl* Is this true

Random Girl: I….*looks at mother then looks down at her feet and nods head* Yes sir… it's true

Guard: * walks over to the mother very pissed* You’ll regret that *puts her arms behind her back*

Mother: *looks at the guard* N-E-V-E-R…I will fly once more *leaves with guard*

Rando Lady: *watches them leave* What have I done…..

connections between haitian/american stories in krik krak

The women in Krik? Krak! lead very different lives depending on location. While the women in Haiti struggle endlessly to continually provide, the Haitian immigrant women of America struggle to provide just as much, while constantly delivering various tidbits of advice and proverbs to their blessed children, who had the luxury of growing up American.

A prominent example of a difference would be between Night Women and New York Day Women, where the two mothers lead very different jobs at very different times of day, all for the sake of their children's well being. The mother in Night Women chooses to become a prostitute, satisfying men at night-time for their money, all so she can feed her son. Meanwhile, the mother in New York Day Women works as a nanny for other children, sacrificing time with her daughter to gain extra money for the family, and having less of a relationship with her child unlike the woman in Night Women due to her different line of work.

Caroline's Wedding provides us a different perspective than the one given in Night Women and New York Day Women. Like NYDW, it centers on the viewpoint of a daughter of a Haitian immigrant, but unlike the other daughter, she was not born in America, and is arguably not the main character. Rather, her sister Caroline is, and the story reads as if there is a sort of disconnect between the daughter with her sister and mother, almost like she feels like she doesn't belong with either. While she's a Haitian immigrant like her mother, she's not a complete American like her sister, as she tolerates more of her mother's traditionalist ideas and endeavors.

more krik krak story notes

Night Women

• A prostitute works to support her son due to there being no real “man” in the family
• It reads in a sort of dreamlike/mystical way
• She’s simply doing it to support her son probably because being a pieceworker isn’t as profitable
• She works really hard to make sure her son doesnt find out about her work
• She’s awake at day to tempt people and awake at night to do business and i wonder if she actually sleeps
• She has pretty steady work (two constant cliente who prefer her over their wives i guess)

Seeing things simply

• Princesse is a girl who passes by a cockfighting ring every afternoon on her way to pose nude for a french artist
• An old man at the ring drinks a lot and tries to do magic that never works
• Princesse is very shy about being the subject and supposes that if nobody sees the paintings then it’s okay
• Catherine paints her more and they talk about art and she mentions how her teacher died
• Then catherine disappears, but princesse goes to her villa every day and starts getting a desire to want to draw and paint
• When catherine returns she wears her dead mentor’s shoes and gives princesse one of her paintings she modelled for
• She passes the old drunk who tells her he’s happy he gets to see her twice while he fails more magic that was supposed to get his wife to be silent and stop trying to take him home
• Im not sure what the significance of the cockfights are

New York Day Women

• Suzette is the grown woman of a haitian immigrant
• She is walking around manhattan only to find her mother and she decides to follow her while remembering the things her mother says about haiti
• Most of her mother’s “narrations” are about the difference between haiti and america
• Suzette is shocked at her mother staring at dresses that she shouldnt buy (because it would go straight to goodwill) and her mother buying a hot dog (because salt > 100 bags of shame)
• Then she watches her mother babysit a small child for a woman, she gives him a can of soda she bought, and then watches him read a comic book until his mom comes back
• Then suzette has to return to her office, but not before seeing her mother with other ethnic nannies
• On her way back, she realizes her mother never went to any PTA meetings for her because she was already very smart, and she didnt want to “make you ashamed of this day woman.” before concluding shame > 100 bags of salt.

Tone and content of Night Women

The tone of Night Women is very paradoxical. It reads with distinct imagery of the narrator’s actions and descriptions of hibiscus while simultaneously discussing her “work” at night. She chooses against telling her son the details and nature of such a job, something I can understand. This style of speech gives off an almost mystical sense of setting, making the night seem dreamlike in contrast with the briefly mentioned day, which reads with less embellishment. Interestingly, she mentions how she’s resigned herself to tell her son that it was only dreams, but she would later explain to him that angels brought his father back, if only for a night. This adds to the dreamlike quality of the story, and shows a motherly determination to hide the truth for his sake. Regardless of its content, Night Women is truly about a mother choosing to provide for and protect her son through busy nights and well-meaning fabrications.

the common theme of escape in krik krak

In Edwidge Danticat’s collection of short stories, Krik? Krak!, a common theme in the three stories we’ve read so far is the theme of escape. Characters in all the stories are constantly searching for escape through various means, whether by sea, land, or sky. In Children of the Sea, both of the narrators are forced to escape, with the girl being taken with her parents to retreat to Ville Rose, and the boy sent out to sea with various others in search of Miami and away from the horrors of home. In 1937, all of the women who were said to have “wings of fire” escaped from the massacre in the Dominican Republic. In A Wall of Fire Rising, Little Guy seemed to use the frantic recital of his lines as an escape, while Guy sought escape through death and the Assads’ hot air balloon in the yard of the sugar mill.

I find it interesting how the characters that seek escape seem to rarely achieve the freedom they’re searching for. Guy is notable, as his death could be interpreted to mean that through his suicide from the balloon, he’s managed to fall and die as a hero. In addition to this, the voodoo women from the Dominican Republic also have achieved escape, although in a more literal sense, and usually with sadder endings. While they manage to successfully escape from their deaths, they usually end up in the prison due to their religious affiliation, and the wings of fire they represent.

Personally, I feel that the entirety of Krik? Krak! feels as if it is marred with a constant sense of despair and a lack of hope, no true victory for our protagonists as they struggle with their various issues and challenges. This theme of despair and loss resonates through each story and other themes, especially the one of escape. While everyone seems to try and run away, they never seem to truly make it, always falling short at the last minute, right before the finish line. And more often than not, they seem to be unable to even see the finish line.

1937 and A wall of fire rising notes

1937
A thing called  Madonna cries one tear
A child doesnt know what the Dominican Republic is
They encounter an old woman with a basket of leeches who looks at the thing
The kid is from Ville Rose and comes to see a prisoner
The woman tells her where to buy fried pork and plantains for the prisoner so they buy some for their mother and go to the prison
“Women like manman who was accused of having wings of flame”
the mother has a life sentence and was probably being accused of being a witch or something because prison guards think she has wrinkles from taking off her skin at night and putting it back on before sunrise also she has a life sentence
They have trouble talking to their mother and act mute
The mother cries over the madonna until a guard threatens to shoot her
She says the guards dont treat her badly AS SHE SMILES WITH BLOODY TEETH
All the women are accused of stealing children and growing wings of fire because i dont know
Her mother was arrested for looking after a child with colic who died and she was stoned and beaten as she was taken away
The madonna cries because wax on the madonna melts and slides down her face
The narrator is a girl
Her mom is dying and she says “the sun can no longer warm god’s creatures”
Her mother is dying and also earlier i forgot to type about how many women would go to a river and dip their hands in for some religious reasons
A week later a woman comes for her and says she used to go with them to the river
Jacqueline urges her to accompany her to visit her mother before they burn and kill her
Her mother died and was beaten for having too loose skin and another woman wears her dress and gives them her pillow
They talk about flying and i am very confused
I think this entire story involves some of the voodoo religion we researched?


A wall of fire rising


A poor family of three (poor on the level of they cant consistently eat food) live together
The father Guy, mother Lilli, and son Little Guy
Father Guy works at a mill doing inconsistent part time work.
The son comes home and turns out he’s given the role of Boukman in a school play
Guy also hits Little Guy for excessive reciting
Little Guy has a lot of fear about forgetting
Guy becomes obsessed with a hot air balloon and Lilli urges him to stop
There seems to be a side-plot where Guy becomes non-sexually interested in her body
Eventually his obsession gets the better of him and he tries to fly the balloon and promptly dies by falling from it.
Eerily, Little Guy recites his lines which are metaphorically representative of Guy’s struggles as Lilli decides against closing his eyes

In class writing about Edwidge Danticat's quotes and how it relates to krik krak

Two quotes by Edwidge Danticat really stood out to me as being directly related to her short stories in Krik? Krak!


“Love is like the rain. It comes in a drizzle sometimes. Then it starts pouring and if you’re not careful it will drown you.”


This quote seems to directly relate to the first story, Children of the Sea. The two distanced lovers in the story both endure struggles that mirror the flow of the quote. They first experience the drizzle of new love, mentioned at in their flashbacks to before the male lead is forced out to sea. The rain of their emotions reaches an apex when they are apart, and the story ends with the literal drowning of the male lead.


“It is the calm and silent waters that drown you.”


The story of A Wall of Fire Rising and the struggles of Guy seem to be an exact parallel to this quote. Throughout the enti story, Guy continually and silently is caught between his desire to know what it is to fly, and to his duties for his family. Eventually, he does not speak of this struggle, and pays the price with his death as he falls from the balloon.