Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Breath, Eyes, Memory, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma
Virginity and Violence
Home
Memory, Storytelling, and the Past
Summary
Analysis
The night before returning to New York, Sophie asks Tante Atie if she and Brigitte can sleep in her bedroom. Tante Atie is distraught over Louise’s departure and Granmè Ifé’s betrayal, and Sophie tries to comfort her by telling her Louise would’ve gotten the money somehow—sometimes, Sophie says, we cannot control the people we love. Tante Atie tells Sophie that children are life’s only rewards, and calls Sophie her own child.
This passage seems to suggest that much of Tante Atie’s depression is due to the fact that Sophie—who was effectively her child, though not her biological daughter—was ripped away from her at a young age for reasons beyond her control.
Themes
The next day, Tante Atie and Granmè Ifé accompany Martine, Sophie, and Brigitte to the market to meet the van that will take them to Port-au-Prince. The women all say goodbye to one another tearfully—Tante Atie reminds Sophie to treat Martine well, and Granmè Ifé marvels once more at all “the faces” that live in Brigitte. As the van pulls away, the village fades into a blur; Sophie is not sure when or if she will see the women of her family again.
Granmè Ifé’s ability to see generations of Caco in Brigitte’s face is an externalized metaphor of generational trauma, since the resemblance between Brigitte and the women in her family likely reminds Granmè Ifé that Brigitte could go on to experience the same trauma and pain that Sophie, Martine, Tante Atie, and Granmè Ifé herself have experienced.
Themes
