Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Farming of Bones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Power of Memory
Dreams vs. Reality
Language and Identity
Death, Grief, and Hope
Home, Family, and Belonging
Summary
Analysis
Amabelle and Yves continue to travel through the night, until dawn; Amabelle’s house uniform clings to her as they come across a stream. Yves believes they will reach the border by nightfall. Suddenly the two hear an oxcart traveling along the path, and they hide as the cart gets stuck in the road. Yves and Amabelle see a young girl fall out of the cart; she has sustained wounds from a machete. The girl’s body falls down the slope. The men steering do not notice that the girl has fallen out of the cart.
The body of the girl rolling off the cart unseen illustrates how death is commonplace and always present. Although the oxcart drivers do not see the girl’s demise, death is still ubiquitous: it occurs even when no one is around to mourn or acknowledge it. The girl’s death is also a tragic consequence of nationalistic hatred. The girl is a nameless victim of violence by Dominican soldiers—evidenced by the machete wounds— and, due to her nationality, she is unimportant to the drivers. They do not acknowledge her loss, as cultural tension has led them to be unsympathetic towards—and prejudiced against—her and other Haitians.
Themes
Amabelle and Yves hear groaning from the cart. One the cart’s owners picks up a rock and bashes it against one of the people who is stirring underneath the cart’s coverings, and the sounds stop. After watching the scene, Yves seems “numb,” and he tells Amabelle that at least they “survived the night.”
Once again, the presence of death and the consequences of racial intolerance become evident. One of the owners physically assaults a person being carried in his cart, possibly causing a fatal injury. This altercation illustrates how swiftly or unexpectedly death can occur. Yves, struck by the callousness of the action, feels numb: the reality of death is so overwhelming and cruel that he cannot confront it. The driver’s actions, which are unsympathetic and hostile, are presumably a consequence of intolerance and prejudice: because he lives in a country that does not value people of a certain culture, he feels justified in assaulting them and knows that he will get away with it.
Themes
Amabelle and Yves get something to eat, and a religious procession passes by. Amabelle notes that there is such an immediate connection between “desperate women” that she is already aware of the prayers they are murmuring to themselves. The last woman in line is holding a portrait of Trujillo, and praying for his good health.
Despite the fact that Amabelle and the women in the religious procession are from different cultures, she recognizes their prayers. This sense of camaraderie subverts strict cultural labels of “Haitian” or “Dominican”—the women share an understanding, despite their different upbringings. Still, one of the praying women is holding up a portrait of the Dominican Republic’s dictator, who has stoked racial tensions through propaganda. The portrait, which glorifies Dominican nationalism, thereby illustrates how cultural boundaries are reinforced and upheld, keeping people separate who might otherwise find common ground.
Themes
Amabelle and Yves continue on their journey for a while, and then come to rest on the side of the mountain. They are approached by a group of travelers, who look like the members of a “vast family.” Amabelle notes that two of the women look like they are Dominicanas, or potentially a mix of Haitian and Dominican; she emphasizes that it is sometimes “hard to tell.”
The traveling troupe seems like a family, despite their differing identities. Amabelle even emphasizes that, despite her first guesses about their nationalities, it is often difficult to truly tell whether someone is Dominican or Haitian. As such, the travelers demonstrate how narrow cultural labels are often fallible and even nonsensical. Sometimes, people transcend boundaries to form new ways of relating to one another.
Themes
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The group unites, and Yves asks where they are from. Two members of the group, Odette and her partner Wilner, claim they are from the “Yanki” mills on the other side of the island. Amabelle tells them that there were rumors that Haitians would be safe in the “big mills,” but Odette does not wish to debate the truth of the rumors. Odette and Wilner are the only two members who are from the same location; they have picked up the others along the way. The travelers share a meal together, and Yves and Wilner debate how long it will take to reach the border.
Although Amabelle has officially decided to leave the Dominican Republic behind—she rejects it as her home—she nevertheless clings to rumors that some parts of the Dominican Republic are welcoming. Amabelle thereby reveals that although her conception of home has altered, and she no longer fully feels welcome in the Dominican Republic, she is still trying to figure out where she belongs and feels safe.
Themes
Amabelle is drawn to one of the travelers, named Tibon, whose arms are mismatched; she asks him how long he has been traveling. He tells her it has been five days, and then recounts the story of his capture: he was thrown in a truck and taken with others to a “cliff over the rough seas in La Romana.” He tells Amabelle how the soldiers told groups of people to jump, six at a time. If they chose not to, they faced civilians with machetes. Amabelle imagines Sebastien’s voice telling her that he is alive.
Tibon’s story reveals how deep-set cultural prejudices can turn even civilians into violent enemies. The Dominicans’ prejudice against Haitians leads them to persecute the Haitians, and eventually results in Dominicans ordering Haitians to their deaths. Due to the Dominicans’ belief in narrow-minded cultural labels, they do not value the Haitians in their society, and they seem to feel no remorse for the lost lives of their fellow residents.
Themes
Amabelle begins to daydream about Sebastien, recalling many past memories: she remembers him recounting Joël’s death, and reminisces about his many moods. She remembers him being angered by the sound of cane being cut, and how the smell of the cane troubled him. Tibon interrupts her memories to tell his story, and describes how he was forced to jump off the cliff.
Confronted with the traveler’s painful story, Amabelle begins to fall into fantasies. She is unwilling to deal with the grim reality Tibon describes, and instead concentrates on happier memories of Sebastien. Tibon’s interruption represents the intrusive way that reality infringes on dreams, and his story highlights the inescapability of Amabelle’s present circumstances.
Themes
Tibon survives the jump and tries to escape. He recalls how he saw peasants wading into the water with machetes, and says they were looking to “cut off heads.” The other travelers listen to the story, and are moved to tears. The two Dominican sisters then ask in Spanish if Yves is Amabelle’s man; she answers in the negative, and Tibon claims that Yves looks at her like he can protect her.
Tibon’s story continues to illustrate the consequences of the Dominicans’ prejudice against Haitians. Even Dominican peasants—who, based on their lack of wealth, occupy similar positions as Haitians in Dominican society—are hostile to the Haitians and ready to commit violence. Identity and cultural prejudices again seem to supersede any sense of sympathy.
Themes
The two sistersDolores and Doloritascontinue to talk to the group in Spanish, as it is clear that they do not know how to speak Haitian Creole. Dolores explains that they are Dominicanas, and Doloritas describes how her man, a Haitian, was taken from her bed. Doloritas tells Amabelle that she wanted to learn Haitian Creole for her partner, and how she planned to visit his family in Haiti.
The two Dominican sisters speak only Spanish, illustrating how their language reinforces their identity. The other members of the group, however, are multilingual, demonstrating that language and cultural barriers can be broken. Despite the sisters’ inability to speak Haitian Creole, however, they show a clear willingness to learn. This enthusiasm is yet another example of how cultural labels can be transcended, and how one’s identity can become flexible.
Themes
Amabelle begins to walk with the sisters, and Tibon looks disappointed that she has forsaken his company. He begins to talk about the plight of the Haitians in the Dominican Republic, and claims that poor men will always be hated by their neighbors. He then adds that staying “too long at a neighbor’s house” will inevitably lead to hatred and resentment, and wonders if the Generalissimo is waiting for them at the border of the two countries.
Tibon repeats phrases that emphasize the cultural divide between Dominicans and Haitians. This propaganda reinforces how the Haitians are not true members of Dominican society, due to their heritage; rather, they are compared to visitors overstaying their welcome. Tibon’s speech shows how cultural labels used to divide and separate groups of people: Haitians, a cultural group that is considered foreign to the Dominicans, are unwelcome.
Themes
