The Farming of Bones

by

Edwidge Danticat

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The Farming of Bones makes teaching easy.
Joël is a friend of Sebastien and Yves, and a fellow Haitian immigrant working in the cane fields. Joël is killed in an automobile accident: Señor Pico, after hearing of the birth of his two children, drives recklessly and strikes Joël, pushing him into a ravine. Afterwards, Señor Pico demonstrates a total lack of remorse, and Joël’s murder goes unpunished by law. Joël’s senseless death foreshadows the intensifying cultural tension between Haitians and Dominicans, and reveals the rampant inequality within the Dominican Republic. Joël’s sudden and unexpected passing also demonstrates how pervasive death can be.

Joël Quotes in The Farming of Bones

The The Farming of Bones quotes below are all either spoken by Joël or refer to Joël . 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:
The Power of Memory Theme Icon
).
Chapter 22 Quotes

“Are you certain you don’t want to keep this face for yourself?” I asked.

“I’ve made many,” he said, “for all those who, even when I’m gone, will keep my son in mind. If I could, I would carry them all around my neck, I would, like some men wear their amulets […] The elder of your house, Don Ignacio, he’s not asked again to come and see me, no? […] I’m not surprised,” he said, “that my son has already vanished from his thoughts.”

Related Characters: Amabelle Désir (speaker), Kongo (speaker), Joël
Related Symbols: Joël’s Mask
Page Number: 121–122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“You never believed those people could injure you… Even after they killed Joël, you thought they could never harm you.”

[…] Perhaps I had trusted too much. I had been living inside dreams that would not go away, the memories of an orphaned child. When the present itself was truly frightful, I had perhaps purposely chosen not to see it.

Related Characters: Amabelle Désir (speaker), Sebastien Onius (speaker), Joël
Page Number: 141
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Farming of Bones LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Farming of Bones PDF

Joël Quotes in The Farming of Bones

The The Farming of Bones quotes below are all either spoken by Joël or refer to Joël . 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:
The Power of Memory Theme Icon
).
Chapter 22 Quotes

“Are you certain you don’t want to keep this face for yourself?” I asked.

“I’ve made many,” he said, “for all those who, even when I’m gone, will keep my son in mind. If I could, I would carry them all around my neck, I would, like some men wear their amulets […] The elder of your house, Don Ignacio, he’s not asked again to come and see me, no? […] I’m not surprised,” he said, “that my son has already vanished from his thoughts.”

Related Characters: Amabelle Désir (speaker), Kongo (speaker), Joël
Related Symbols: Joël’s Mask
Page Number: 121–122
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

“You never believed those people could injure you… Even after they killed Joël, you thought they could never harm you.”

[…] Perhaps I had trusted too much. I had been living inside dreams that would not go away, the memories of an orphaned child. When the present itself was truly frightful, I had perhaps purposely chosen not to see it.

Related Characters: Amabelle Désir (speaker), Sebastien Onius (speaker), Joël
Page Number: 141
Explanation and Analysis: