44 pages • 1 hour read
Edwidge DanticatEverything Inside
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2021A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Trauma of Immigration
Throughout the collection, Danticat depicts immigration as a life-changing event with lasting traumatic effects, regardless of the individual’s quality of life in their new country. While acknowledging the potential for immigrants to find a new, better life in America, the stories in this collection also highlight the violence that accompanies the act of immigration.
The final story in the collection, “Without Inspection,” offers the clearest example of the violence of the immigration process. The story’s protagonist, Arnold, came to America via boat in horrific conditions. He describes how “they had run out of clean water halfway through the trip from Port-de-Paix, on the northern coast of Haiti, and had to drink seawater or their own urine” (205). During the four-day journey, Arnold and the other passengers had “become both homesick and seasick, shrinking to sunburned skin and protruding bones” (206). Ultimately, the 13 passengers were “ditched in the middle of the sea and told by the captain to swim ashore” (203); at least half of the group drowned. The horrific details of this journey appear to Arnold as he falls to his death, suggesting that they have had a lasting, traumatic impact on his psyche.
“Seven Stories” acts as an allegory for all Caribbean islands affected by colonialism and the transatlantic trading of enslaved people, and the immigration experience of Callie Morrissette is representative of those forced to migrate as a result of political instability. After her father was assassinated, Callie was only able to secure passage on a plane because an officer sexually assaulted her mother. Years later, Callie recalls how “I had to sit outside that room. I had to listen to him moan and moan and moan” (194). The traumatic repetition of the phrase “I had to” and the word “moan” demonstrates the lasting impact of the violence of this moment. Although migrating to America likely saved her life, Callie remains traumatized by the experience. As the daughter of an assassinated politician, Callie is representative of those who immigrate for political reasons, despite her relative privilege. The lasting trauma of her experience migrating to America is essential to her growth as a character.
By highlighting the trauma of leaving home, Danticat’s stories, especially “Seven Stories” and “Without Inspection,” provide a complex but empathetic portrayal of the immigrant experience. While all the characters in Everything Inside yearn for a better life and opportunities, they also carry a deep nostalgia and longing for their homeland. The collection explores the duality of these emotions, as characters experience a sense of dislocation and displacement, caught between the past and the present, between two worlds.
The Resilience of the Haitian Diaspora
The resilience of the Haitian diaspora emerges as a significant and inspiring theme in the collection: Danticat’s stories portray the struggles, challenges, and triumphs of Haitians and individuals of Haitian descent living outside of Haiti, highlighting their persistence in the face of adversity. Despite the trauma and hardships endured, these characters display remarkable resolve as they navigate the complexities of their new lives.
“Hot Air Balloons” is narrated by Lucy, a Haitian American college student and the daughter of Haitian migrant workers. She describes how her parents met “while traveling between oranges, berries, lettuce, tomatoes, and corn harvests along the Georgia and Florida coasts” (115). This lengthy list of crops highlights the transient nature of life as a migrant worker. Throughout her childhood, Lucy and her family “slept in grower-owned housing, which was basically bunk beds and sometimes cots behind barns and stables, where only thin wooden slats and planks separated my parents and me from the animals” (115). These animalistic conditions are presented as a necessary sacrifice for Lucy’s future. The story emphasizes Lucy and her family’s resilience in the face of these difficult conditions by contrasting Lucy’s experience with that of her privileged roommate Neah.
“The Gift” and “In the Old Days” both feature characters demonstrating resiliency in the face of horrific loss. In “The Gift,” Thomas is a Haitian immigrant living in Miami who loses his wife, daughter, and leg during the 2010 earthquake. The earthquake has lasting physical effects—in addition to his lost leg, “his gaunt face was full of nicks and scars” (87)—and leaves Thomas with post-traumatic stress disorder so severe that he has a panic attack at the sound of fireworks. Nevertheless, Thomas is mentally strong enough to resist restarting his affair with the narrator of “The Gift,” who wants to comfort him. Despite the trauma of the earthquake, Thomas’s dedication to his family is evidence of his resiliency. “In The Old Days” depicts a similar scene of loss. Maurice’s wife mourns his death by performing a series of spiritual rituals from their childhoods in Haiti. The story suggests that reliance on these rituals is what allows Maurice’s wife to remain resilient through her loss: the narrator, Nadia, is only able to process Maurice’s death after she engages in the rituals his wife began.
Danticat's portrayal of the resilience of the Haitian diaspora in Everything Inside celebrates the strength, determination, and tenacity of individuals who have been uprooted from their homeland. By shedding light on their stories, Danticat invites readers to appreciate the indomitable spirit of the diaspora and recognize the valuable contributions they make to their communities and the world. The collection serves as a testament to the resilience of the Haitian people, inspiring readers to recognize and celebrate the strength that can emerge from difficult circumstances.
The Impossibility of Truly Knowing Others
Throughout the collection, Danticat presents characters who grapple with personal secrets, hidden desires, and unspoken emotions. These stories challenge the notion that we can ever truly know the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of those around us, even those closest to us. Danticat’s richly layered characters expose the limitations that arise when attempting to understand and connect with others on a deep level.
Elsie, the protagonist of “Dosas,” is twice betrayed by the two people she trusts most in the world. At first, Elsie, her husband Blaise, and her best friend Olivia are inseparable: they are described as “a trio of siblings” (12) who spent all their free time together. Even after Blaise leaves her for Olivia, Elsie feels like she knows Blaise intimately, and is not surprised when he reaches out to her after Olivia is kidnapped. Elsie imagines that she knows exactly how Blaise and Olivia are responding to the kidnapping as a result of their history. The story’s final revelation that Olivia is alive, and that she and Blaise plotted to steal money from Elsie, is evidence of the impossibility of knowing others. Despite their history and intimacy, Elsie doesn’t know Blaise and Olivia as well as she had thought.
“The Port-au-Prince Marriage Special” and “Sunrise, Sunset” both feature examples of the impossibility of full understanding in mother-daughter relationships. The unnamed narrator of “The Port-au-Prince Marriage Special” treats her nanny, Mélisande, as a surrogate daughter, helping her to access health care after an AIDS diagnosis and nursing her back to health. At the end of the story, the narrator struggles to find a simple way to tell Mélisande that the ring given to her by a former lover “was like the pills she’d been taking at first. There was no truth, magic, or healing in it" (80). Mélisande immediately dismisses the narrator’s attempts to explain: “her sunken face and reddened eyes indicated that she already knew” (80). Although the narrator cares about Mélisande, the condescension of her childish attempt to explain sexual politics suggests that she does not truly understand her. The mother-daughter protagonists of “Sunrise, Sunset,” similarly demonstrate the impossibility of knowing in this relationship. Jeanne is dismissive of her mother Carole’s history as a housewife: “church committees and family were her life’s work, a luxury they’d been able to afford because Victor worked double shifts and took extra weekend jobs” (140). It is later revealed that Carole had actually taken secret jobs as a housecleaner in order to provide Jeanne with luxuries such as new shoes and clothes. The central conflict in this story comes from the fact that Jeanne and her mother do not fully understand each other.
By highlighting the limitations of knowledge and understanding, Danticat invites readers to reflect on the complexities of human relationships and the gaps that exist between individuals, even in the closest of bonds. The characters in the collection yearn for connection and understanding, yet they grapple with the impossibility of truly knowing one another. This theme serves as a reminder of the need for empathy, compassion, and a recognition of the limits of our understanding.
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By Edwidge Danticat
