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
The next day, Amabelle visits Man Denise’s house and is told that she has left. One of Man Denise’s caretakers tells Amabelle that Man Denise has left to visit a place where only her children will be able to find her. Amabelle then goes to the church, and meets a woman who has recently returned from Higüey. Amabelle tells this woman about Alégria, and the woman asks if this is the official name, or if people merely called it by that name. The woman then tells Amabelle that Father Emil is the one who listens to survivors’ stories.
Man Denise has given in to her dreams: she is unwilling to cope with reality, and disappears into her fantasies of her reunited family. Man Denise’s decision illustrates death’s power over the living. Her children’s passing is so tragic that she is no longer willing to truly live. Instead, she leaves her home forever, seeking the solace of dreams instead of the company of the living.
Themes
Father Emil tells Amabelle that he no longer listens to people’s stories, as he cannot help them or offer them food or money. Amabelle tells him she does not wish to talk about the past; rather, she asks him for information about Father Vargas or Father Romain. Father Emil tells her that people asked Trujillo to let them go, and that the priests were released. He claims that Father Romain was told to come back to Haiti, despite his wish to remain in the Dominican Republic and help other Haitians; he now lives in Haiti.
Father Emil who, like the justice of the peace, used to listen to survivors’ testimony, is another symbol of memory. He acknowledges, however, that he is unable to provide food or money. His admission is representative of how memory cannot sustain a person; while it is important for preserving history, it cannot help a person live. Father Romain, who preserved Haitian culture in the Dominican Republic, is another character capable of transcending cultural borders. The Dominican government, however, tells him to go to Haiti. His return reaffirms the strict divide between the two countries’ cultures.
Themes
