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
Later that night, Amabelle ruminates about Yves. She notes that the slaughter affected him in many ways: he cannot bear the smell of sugarcane or the taste of parsley. Moreover, the sound of spoken Spanish—even when the speakers are Haitian—inspires “terror,” and turns him mute.
Yves is paralyzed by sensory experiences that remind him of grief. His disproportionate reaction illustrates how pervasive his grief is: he cannot bear even the most innocuous things that remind him of what happened. Moreover, Yves’ terror at the sound of spoken Spanish is an extreme example of how language can be used to divide and isolate people. Spanish, once a regular language for Yves, is now frightening. Due to his fear of Spanish, he is unlikely to try and recapture his past familiarity with Dominican culture.
Themes
Amabelle describes how Yves’s farming has flourished over the years. Despite this bounty, whenever he sits in his mother’s rocking chair, he is simply a “poor man alone.” She notes that the two of them have chosen a hard-working life after the slaughter; the rigor is a source of comfort. She says that the two of them have too many ghosts, and quieter moments would allow these specters to appear.
Once again, Amabelle reveals that she has learned new lessons about her relationship with grief and dreams. She acknowledges that she has relied on being preoccupied with a monotonous, busy life to avoid her ghosts, a symbol of those she has lost. But when she notes that despite his wealth, Yves is still alone, she is essentially admitting that the comforts of their rigorous life are hollow. Amabelle has realized that their hope of escaping grief through work is itself a kind of dream, even though they’ve done what they can to make it a reality.
Themes
Her reverie is interrupted by Man Rapadou, who appears in Amabelle’s sewing room. Man Rapadou explains that she has not been sleeping well, and then tells Amabelle that her life, much like Amabelle’s, “has always been rich with dreams.” She says she has always dreamed of falling: she imagines falling off her parents’ roof, her husband’s roof, off of hills and cliffs, and even mountains. She always wakes up before she lands, but she dreams that she is “closer to the ground every day.”
Man Rapadou’s recitation of her dreams, which always involve her falling off of things, serves as a warning. Man Rapadou’s sensation of falling is representative of the ways in which dreamers become unmoored and disconnected from reality. Man Rapadou never truly loses herself in dreams, as she always wakes up before she lands, but she fears that this might get increasingly caught up in dreams as time goes on. Man Rapadou’s speech is a lesson about the danger of losing touch with the world for the sake of fantasy.
Themes
Man Rapadou admits that it is hard to accept that life will go on without her. Amabelle sympathizes with her, thinking to herself that her body’s sadness feels deeper with each passing day. She says that when she sees a young man, she sometimes dreams of living with him “without pain,” and imagines their domestic life together.
Despite her own realizations, as well as Man Rapadou’s lesson, Amabelle is not willing to give up her fantasies completely. To soften the grief of aging and loss, she often visualizes a different life with a new man. This new life is meant to erase her grief and her experience of death, and replace it with domestic joy. In this way, Amabelle is fantasizing the life she and Sebastien never had as a way of coping with losing him.
Themes
Get the entire The Farming of Bones LitChart as a printable PDF.
Man Rapadou explains that death should arrive slowly. She then discusses how life can be full of surprises; she describes eating mangoes and letting the seeds fall to the ground, only to be astonished when a mango tree suddenly grows. Amabelle understands that this is a metaphor for Amabelle’s sudden arrival in Man Rapadou’s life.
Man Rapadou continues to impart lessons this time, she shares a story of hope. She compares Amabelle’s arrival to the growth of a new tree, a symbol of a rejuvenated life. Man Rapadou’s story of the mango tree reveals that, despite her age, her conception of home and family has grown. Amabelle’s surprising arrival allowed her to reconfigure her idea of family for the better, suggesting that there’s always room for positive change when it comes to one’s sense of belonging and community.
Themes
Man Rapadou then explains that her husband, who was sent to a Yanki prison, agreed to spy on his countrymen after his release. To avoid this, Man Rapadou poisoned him. She did this because she loves her country, and would not let her husband sell out their friends to the Yankis for profit.
Man Rapadou’s confession shows how deeply she values her Haitian identity, as well as her home country. Man Rapadou’s national pride, however, also leads her to commit murder; it’s clear at this point that the death of Yves’s father wasn’t an accident after all. Although her actions are in no way comparable to the violent actions of the Dominican government, both scenarios illustrate how pride in one’s identity—and a sense of belonging that overrides all else—can lead to drastic decisions that harm others.
Themes
The next day, Amabelle walks among tourists at the citadel. She follows one particular group, and realizes she chose them because the guide is speaking Spanish. The guide tells the story of Henry I, and how he was a slave who became a king. He also relates how many people died constructing the landmark, and says that buildings of the citadel’s size are often a result of bloodshed.
The tour guide’s story of Henry I, spoken in Spanish, is a literal representation of Dominican and Haitian culture intermingling: the Spanish language helps communicate vital parts of Haitian history. The guide also emphasizes that people lose their lives in the process of building landmarks. His narrative illustrates the pervasiveness of death, especially in relation to nationalistic efforts like the construction of the citadel: even in non-violent scenarios, death is present and inevitable.
Themes
The tour guide then relates how Henry I shot himself in order to avoid surrendering to a rising revolt. The guide says that famous men never pass away completely; rather, only nameless and faceless people disappear without a trace.
The guide then provides an explicit lesson about the importance of memory. Famous people, immortalized by memory, can never be erased by death. Those who pass away without anyone to memorialize or recall their legacy, however, disappear entirely. Memory, then, is the best safeguard against historical anonymity; it is necessary to preserving the past from being forgotten.
Themes
