Joseph Character Analysis in Breath, Eyes, Memory

A soulful musician who starts out as Sophie and Martine’s next-door neighbor and eventually becomes Sophie’s husband and the father of her daughter, Brigitte. Joseph originally comes from Louisiana—he speaks a version of Creole, like Sophie, and splits his time between New York and Providence, Rhode Island when he’s not out on the road touring. Joseph is kind, patient, and truly in love with Sophie, but at the same time, he doesn’t understand the full extent of her trauma, and often coerces her into sex in spite of her openness about her physical and emotional revulsion towards the act. Joseph is a complicated character: though he discounts his wife’s pain, he does seem to want to help her heal, and it’s possible he just doesn’t know—or isn’t able to give her—what she needs.

Joseph Quotes in Breath, Eyes, Memory

The Breath, Eyes, Memory quotes below are all either spoken by Joseph or refer to Joseph. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma Theme Icon

As she tested me, to distract me, she told me, “The Marasas were two inseparable lovers. They were the same person, duplicated in two. […] What vail lovers they were, those Marasas. Admiring one another for being so much alike… When you love someone, you want him to be closer to you than your Marasa. Closer than your shadow. […] You would leave me for an old man who you didn’t know the year before. You and I we could be like Marasas. You are giving up a lifetime with me. Do you understand? There are secrets you cannot keep.”

Related Characters: Martine Caco (speaker), Joseph, Sophie Caco

Page Number and Citation: 83-84

Explanation and Analysis:

This quotation, spoken by Martine in order to “distract” Sophie as she “tests” her daughter’s virginity for the first time (by inserting her finger into Sophie’s vagina), represents a turning point in the novel, and offers a stream-of-consciousness look at the mechanisms of generational trauma, virginity’s connection to violence, the failed concept of a “home,” and the power of storytelling and memory. All of the novel’s major themes are encompassed in this paragraph as Martine almost desperately tries to justify what she’s doing and convince Sophie to stay under her care forever, even as she performs an act of sexual Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci vo

The story goes that there was once a woman who walked around with blood constantly spurting out of her unbroken skin. This went on for twelve long years. […] Finally, the woman got tired and said she was going to see Erzulie. […] After her consultation, it became apparent to the woman what she would have to do. If she wanted to stop bleeding, she would have to give up her right to be a human being. She could choose what to be, a plant or an animal, but she could no longer be a woman. […]

“Make me a butterfly,” she told Erzulie.

Related Characters: Sophie Caco (speaker), Joseph, Martine Caco

Page Number and Citation: 86

Explanation and Analysis:

As Martine continues to “test” Sophie’s virginity night after night by physically violating her genitalia, Sophie’s mental state starts to weaken. She becomes ashamed of herself, withdrawn, and fearful—she rejects her boyfriend, Joseph, because she is afraid that Martine’s abuse will worsen if she finds out that they have continued their relationship against her wishes. One night, while Martine is out of the house, Sophie takes a pestle from the kitchen up to her bedroom and thinks of this story she heard in her youth. The story represents the difficult choice Sophie must make. Sophie is, effectively, the woman with Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nis

“Your husband? Is he a good man?”

“He is a very good man, but I have no desire. I feel like it is an evil thing to do.”

“Your mother? Did she ever test you?”

“You can call it that.”

“That is what we have always called it.”

“I call it humiliation,” I said. “I hate my body. I am ashamed to show it to anybody, including my husband. Sometimes I feel like I should be off somewhere by myself. That is why I am here.”

Related Characters: Granmè Ifé (speaker), Sophie Caco (speaker), Joseph

Page Number and Citation: 121-122

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, Sophie confronts Granmè Ifé directly, and for the first time, about the “humiliation,” trauma, and pain that the practice of virginity “testing” has caused—not just for Sophie herself, but for all of the women in their family. Sophie is full of anger as she thinks about the violence that has been done unto her—and, of course, to all the women in her family—by her mother, the very woman who was supposed to protect her. All of the Caco women have faced this violent betrayal, but Sophie is the first to confront, name, and condemn what has happened Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa

I had spent two days in the hospital in Providence and four weeks with stitches between my legs. Joseph could never understand why I had done something so horrible to myself. I could not explain to him that it was like breaking manacles, an act of freedom.

Related Characters: Sophie Caco (speaker), Joseph, Martine Caco

Page Number and Citation: 127-128

Explanation and Analysis:

As Sophie reflects on the violent way in which she “took” her own “virginity” by mutilating her vagina with a pestle, she admits that the “horrible” act must be alienating and incomprehensible to some people. Sophie, however, defends what she did to herself in spite of the physical and emotional pain it added to her life. Convincing Martine that she was no longer pure was the only way to free herself from the virginity “testing” that Martine inflicted on her—and yet Sophie was unable to actually go through with the act of losing her virginity while still under her mother’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem ac

“The new lady,” [Eliab] said, “does she belong to you?”

“Sometimes I claim her,” I said, “sometimes I do not.”

Related Characters: Eliab (speaker), Sophie Caco (speaker), Martine Caco , Joseph

Page Number and Citation: 169

Explanation and Analysis:

After Sophie has been in Haiti for a while, her mother sends a cassette to Granmè Ifé—on it, she states that Sophie’s husband, Joseph, is concerned about her, since Sophie told no one where she was going or why. Granmè Ifé replies to Martine’s message, telling her of Sophie’s whereabouts, and soon after Martine arrives in Haiti to visit her relatives and collect Sophie. As Martine lays eyes on her mother for the first time in years, she doesn’t know whether or not she should “claim” her. Martine is the source of so much of Sophie’s pain, trauma, and suffering—at Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi

After Joseph and I got married, all through the first year I had suicidal thoughts. Some nights I woke up in a cold sweat wondering if my mother’s anxiety was somehow hereditary or if it was something that I had “caught” from living with her. Her nightmares had somehow become my own. […] I looked back at my daughter, who was sleeping peacefully. […] The fact that she could sleep meant that she had no nightmares, and maybe, would never become a frightened insomniac like my mother and me.

Related Characters: Sophie Caco (speaker), Joseph, Martine Caco , Brigitte

Related Symbols: Dreams and Night Terrors

Page Number and Citation: 196

Explanation and Analysis:

As Sophie, freshly returned from Haiti, drives her daughter, Brigitte, back to their home in Providence, Rhode Island, she looks back on her sleeping daughter. Sophie hopes that Brigitte’s peacefulness while dreaming is a sign that she has not inherited the trauma, pain, and fear that have defined the lives of so many Caco women. Sophie is hyperaware of the ways in which trauma is passed on—wittingly or unwittingly—from generation to generation, and is terrified of imbuing her daughter’s life with the same pain and suffering that Martine brought into hers. Sophie hopes that she can break the cycle of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. De

“My grandmother was preparing her funeral,” I said. “It’s a thing at home.” […]

“You called it home?” [Joseph] said. “Haiti.”

“What else would I call it?”

“You have never called it that since we’ve been together. Home has always been your mother’s house, that you could never go back to.”

Related Characters: Joseph (speaker), Sophie Caco (speaker), Granmè Ifé, Martine Caco

Page Number and Citation: 198

Explanation and Analysis:

In this passage, Sophie refers to Haiti as “home” for the first time. Joseph, her husband, points out that home as always been, to Sophie, the one place she’s been forbidden from returning—her mother’s house in Brooklyn. This passage clarifies Edwidge Danticat’s larger argument about the nature of home. She suggest that home, for most people—and especially for members of a diaspora—is a fluid state of mind rather than a physical place. Home isn’t somewhere to which a person can return, because it’s something that doesn’t really exist—home is a sense of innocence and happiness that can never be reclaimed Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore.

Joseph Character Timeline in Breath, Eyes, Memory

The timeline below shows where the character Joseph appears in Breath, Eyes, Memory. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...you weren’t careful, Sophie has quickly fallen head over heels for an older man named Joseph—a jazz musician who looks a little bit like Monsieur Augustin, and who lives next door... (full context)

Whenever Joseph greets Sophie or Martine—who are almost always together when they walk in the public—Martine clutches... (full context)

Sophie is too shy—and too scared of her mother—to take Joseph up on his invitation, but they meet again when Joseph brings Sophie a sandwich, again... (full context)

Sophie begins going over to Joseph’s apartment every day while her mother is working, even though she knows the wrath she’ll... (full context)

One night, after a performance, Joseph shows up at Sophie’s house to take her out to dinner. Sophie calls Martine at... (full context)

...gets good grades in school and works hard not to act wistful or distracted when Joseph is away on a gig. Martine continues asking about “Henry,” and Sophie keeps lying, stating... (full context)

When Joseph gets back from his tour, Sophie goes out to hear him play the first night... (full context)

Joseph goes out on another short tour, and when he comes back, he asks Sophie to... (full context)

Memory, Storytelling, and the Past Theme Icon

The next night, when Sophie comes home late from a night out with Joseph, she walks in to see her mother sitting up in the living room, waiting for... (full context)

Sophie does not tell Joseph what her mother has done to her before he leaves for Providence for five weeks.... (full context)

Sophie goes inside, but after a few minutes, she begins to hear Joseph’s saxophone playing and becomes deeply sad. Martine is out with Marc, and Sophie wanders into... (full context)

Sophie waits until Martine is asleep, then packs her things and runs next door to Joseph’s. Limping, she enters his apartment and tells him she is ready to get married right... (full context)

...in Martine’s old bedroom, listening to her grandmother’s snores from the next room and missing Joseph. She asks Brigitte rhetorical questions about whether Brigitte will remember this trip when she’s older,... (full context)

...asks Sophie why she came to Haiti with no warning—and why she didn’t bring her husband. Sophie confesses that she is having some trouble with her marriage. Her grandmother asks her... (full context)

...to show her grandmother, but as she looks at an old photograph of her and Joseph, she remembers the pain of their wedding night, which took place several weeks after she... (full context)

...in years. On the tape, Martine reports that she has been in touch with Sophie’s husband, Joseph, who is very concerned about her whereabouts—Sophie has left home with Brigitte but hasn’t... (full context)

...dreams. Even after the testing ended, Sophie found herself continuing to double during sex with Joseph. (full context)

...ever happened” to her. Her grandmother tells her to have “patience”—soon Sophie’s struggles with her husband will go away. (full context)

...though, Granmè Ifé has charged Martine with coming here to patch things up with Sophie—plus, Joseph begged Martine to find Sophie and bring her home. Sophie tells her mother that she... (full context)

One Martine is gone, Sophie picks up the phone and calls Joseph. She tells him she’s back from Haiti and staying in Brooklyn for the night. Joseph... (full context)

Joseph asks if Sophie and her mother have worked things out, and Sophie vaguely states that... (full context)

As Sophie pulls into the driveway of her and Joseph’s home in Providence, he runs out of the house to meet them. He lifts Brigitte... (full context)

Sophie sprawls out on the couch, and Joseph sits beside her and kisses her ear. He tells her he’s determined to get through... (full context)

That night, Sophie and Joseph get into bed, but Sophie cannot sleep. She calls her mother, but Martine hurries off... (full context)

That night, Sophie eats the dinner Joseph has cooked for her and does not purge. She calls her mother to ask how... (full context)

As soon as Sophie hangs up, Joseph pulls her to him and begins kissing her. Sophie begins “doubling.” She lets Joseph peel... (full context)

After Joseph finishes, he rolls off of Sophie and tells her she was “very good.” She tells... (full context)

When Sophie gets home from the meeting, Joseph is excited because Brigitte has said her first word: “Dada.” He also reports that Martine... (full context)

Martine greets Sophie, Joseph, and Brigitte on the stoop outside her house, welcoming them warmly and introducing Marc to... (full context)

...a moment alone to discuss Martine’s decision. That night, on the ride back to Providence, Joseph tells Sophie that he understands Martine a little better—she didn’t like him, he says, because... (full context)

When Sophie arrives home, Brigitte is sleeping in Joseph’s arms. He puts her down in the bedroom, then comes back into the room and... (full context)

...was when her mother needed her most. Sophie hangs up the phone and falls into Joseph’s arms. Moments later, she runs upstairs and begins packing for New York, while Joseph agrees... (full context)

That night, Sophie calls Joseph and tells him she needs to go to Haiti—alone—to bury her mother. That night, in... (full context)

Joseph Character Analysis

Joseph Quotes in Breath, Eyes, Memory

Chapter 11 Quotes

Chapter 12 Quotes

Chapter 18 Quotes

Chapter 19 Quotes

Chapter 26 Quotes

Chapter 29 Quotes

Chapter 30 Quotes

Joseph Character Timeline in Breath, Eyes, Memory