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Chapter 29
Themes
and Colors
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
Yves and Amabelle are found by a doctor and priest; they are taken to a nearby camp, and Odette’s body is taken from Yves’s arms. Along the side of the road, Amabelle sees corpses laid out, and realizes Odette will be buried with them. Amabelle does not ask where Odette’s final resting place will be, and sees that the priest has already moved on to another body.
Amabelle sees multiple corpses by the side of the road; the sheer number demonstrates how pervasive and omnipresent death is in her life and in Dominican society at this time. Moreover, the priest quickly sees to Odette before moving on to tend the next body. The priest’s rapid pace illustrates how death renders its victims anonymous and interchangeable: there are so many bodies to tend to that he is not able to honor all of them carefully.
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Amabelle looks at Odette’s body one last time, and thinks that death was not a surprise to Odette. Rather, she thinks Odette “eased” into death. Amabelle thinks to herself that she will always be “standing over her body,” and that there will never be a sufficient way to say goodbye to Odette.
Amabelle’s thoughts about Odette reveal death’s ability to leave a lasting impact on one’s existence. Amabelle admits that she will mourn Odette’s death for the rest of her life; in this way, death is an inescapable force that permanently affects the living. Death—and the grief it leaves in its wake—is yet again shown to be a life-changing experience.
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Amabelle is examined by a doctor and sees the other victims undergoing treatment for various injuries. One woman’s leg is unsalvageable, and the doctors prepare to cut it off. A drop of the blood from the woman’s amputated leg lands on Amabelle, and the doctor announces that the woman will not live. Amabelle thinks the doctor is talking about her, and believes this will be “the last time [she] would see someone dying.”
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Amabelle falls in and out of consciousness, and dreams she sees her mother. Her mother explains why she never smiled, claiming that she was saving her smile for when Amabelle might need it. She then tells Amabelle that she was teaching her a lesson about love and its scarcity. Amabelle admits she will never “be a whole woman,” because of the absence of her mother’s face.
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Amabelle wakes up and overhears people talking in groups. Amabelle thinks they have a “hunger” to share their experiences, and listens as a group recounts their memories. One person discusses how 700 people were placed in a courtyard and shot with rifles. Another discusses how 200 people were forced to jump off a pier.
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One man describes how he was injured by a machete and left for dead; he recalls waking up in a pile of corpses. He recounts how his feeling of shock is similar to the confusion experienced by a new wife when she wakes up in her marital bed. The group asks the man where his wife is now, and he shrugs as if he does not know.
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Another person reminisces about Haiti’s past. The person states that in prior decades, Haiti was a “strong nation,” comprised of famous men who were willing to fight to “defend [Haitian] blood.” By contrast, Haiti’s current president “says nothing” in response to the attacks occurring in the Dominican Republic.
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The survivors begin to discuss the decisions they made during their escapes. They use “hindsight” to rearrange their perspectives, and discuss the “nearly dead” acquaintances they chose to leave behind. They discuss how to survive the guilt of abandoning their friends; simultaneously, they also dream of reunions with their families.
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Amabelle falls asleep and reawakens three days later. She is told by a nun that she had an extreme fever, and that the doctors thought she might die. Amabelle tries to tell her that she does not want to die, and thinks that Odette and Wilner have “already died for [her].” The nun asks where her caretaker has gone, and at first, Amabelle believes the nun is referring to Sebastien; in reality, she is talking about Yves.
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Yves visits Amabelle and tells her that he is planning to continue traveling and return to his home in Haiti the following day; Amabelle nods to show that she wants to go with him. He tells her that he will take her to Sebastien’s house, and she will be able to reunite with him and Mimi and talk about their escape as if it is “a bad dream.”
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Amabelle worries that rain will cause the river to flood, which will make it difficult for Mimi and Sebastien to cross over into Haiti. She then tells Yves that she often has a dream about her parents in the river. The conversation is interrupted when another survivor cries out that his woman is asking for his help. The nuns give him medicine, and he curls up like a baby for the night.
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The next morning, the man who was sedated begins to call out for his woman. He is comforted by a “crippled Dominican” who is only able to communicate in Spanish. Amabelle notes that he is “black like the nun” who is treating the survivors, and he explains that he has been mistaken for a Haitian. Amabelle emphasizes that there are “many like him” in their camp.
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