Below you will find Response questions for Dew Breaker. Initially theses questions should have been posted for last class 11/22/11.
1- Directly from the start of the book, Danticat introduces several themes to the reader. What are some of those themes?
2-Do you think it would make a difference if the story is told differently from one point of view? How does the many viewpoints affect the story?
3-How are the characters in the story similar or different? Do you see any connections between any of them with Ka or her dad thus far?
4-Do you think Danticat is trying to indirectly imply something with the inter-related story lines?
5-Why do you suppose the author tells the story from different point of views?
Uncle Sam - Strong Features
"Uncle Sam is a Man of Strong Features" (1898)
1) Some of the themes introduced at the beginning o f the novel concern issues regarding trust in one's parent's, ethnic/racial identity, and the consequences of one's actions on their future.
ReplyDelete2) If the novel had been told from only one point of view, many pieces of the puzzle that makes the overall story would have either been missing or significantly biased. By telling the the story through multiple viewpoints, the readers are given a chance to better understand the actions of some of the characters, as well as the characters themselves, instead of just judging them based on their actions. Take Ka's father for instance. Although he has done horrible and inhuman things to people, by hearing his side of the story in both the beginning and ending of the book, you are able to see that despite his horrific actions he is still a person, with a heart and emotions, and are able to better empathize for him.
3)I think a lot of the characters in the story are similar (with the exception of Ka who was born here and has never been to Haiti) in the sense that they are all trying hard to move on and reconstruct their lives as the result of some traumatic event which they either witnessed or experienced back home in Haiti.
4) I think that Danticat is trying to teach readers that even if you physically remove yourself from a situation, you should never try to hide from your issues. A lot of the characters in the story have emotional, physical, and psychological issues that they have yet to accept and come to terms with. Although all of the characters literally flee from the source of their problems, they still carry the burden with them as they continue to live amongst the same people who were either involved in the situation or share the same burden as themselves.
5)There's always multiple sides to every story since everyone experiences and interprets things differently. I think that by telling the story from multiple perspectives Danticat provides the reader with the whole story, and not just biased chunks and pieces. The story also becomes more authentic especially when the stories start to mesh together as different characters recount an event or refer to another character that may already have been presented to you before hand.
1. Some of the themes were loyalty, family, and trust.
ReplyDelete2. If the story was told from one point of view it would of made a big difference to the story. We wouldn't have been able to take into account the way the character felt at that point in time.
3.The characters in this story are all similar to one another. They all share the same culture. They are all trying to escape the previous lives they've lived in Haiti and start out fresh in the US.
4.With the first chapter no. When I first started reading the book I thought that it was going to be based on Ka's life. Once I read past that chapter, I knew something had to connect to Ka and her family.
5.She tells the stories in different points of views because each and every character played a major role in every other character. They were all connected in some point and time without even knowing it.