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CBI Emily Teach

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tykiisel/2013/03/20/you-are-judged-by-your-appearance/

The article I selected is from Forbes, titled " You Are Judged by Your Appearance", the first statistic introduced was a study proven that.... 

1. Tall people get paid more money; " study by Timothy Judge at the University of Florida found that for every inch of height, a tall worker can expect to earn an extra $789 per year. That means two equally skilled coworkers would have a pay differential of nearly $5,000 per year, simply because of a 6-inch height differential, according to the study. "
2. The next statistic was, Women who wear makeup make more: Not only do people judge beauty based on how much makeup a woman is  wearing, make-up adorned women also rank higher in competence and trustworthiness. A study in the American Economic Review said women who wear make-up can earn more than 30 percent more in pay than non makeup wearing workers.
3. Fat people get paid less: Obese workers (those who have a Body Mass Index of more than 30) are paid less than normal-weight coworkers at a rate of $8,666 a year for obese women, and $4,772 a year for obese men, according to a George Washington University study that cited data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in 2004. And other studies indicate obese women are even more likely to be discriminated against when it comes to pay, hiring and raises.
4. Blondes get paid more: A 2010 study from the Queensland University of Technology studied 13,000 Caucasian women and found blondes earn greater than seven percent more than female employees with any other hair color. The study said the pay bump is equivalent to the boost an employee would generally see from one entire year of additional education.
   

These statistics prove that we are under the microscope everyday being judged by our every action. We are constantly being judged by everyone around us whether they're doing it on purpose or not, we just live and breathe in a judgmental society which obviously can sometimes affect us unfairly.

I related this article back to the folktale, " One Eyes, Two Eyes, Three Eyes," by how Two Eyes was always being singled out and mistreated by her mother and her two sisters because she looked "normal." In the tale, Two-Eyes is portrayed as a fairly helpless individual,who must draw upon the old lady’s magic to rid herself of her wicked sisters’ tyranny. She isn't strong enough of a person to stand up to them on her own so she must use the magic of the old woman to help her break free of them. …

“I cannot help weeping,” she replied; “for because I have two eyes, like other people, my mother and sisters cannot bear me; they push me about from one corner to another and make we wear their old clothes, and give me nothing to eat but what is left, so that I am always hungry. To-day they gave me so little that I am nearly starved.”

This story Is the perfect example of how easily people can become bullied or pushed astray just because they do not look like everyone else( in this case she did however). In today’s society, if a person had anything other then two eyes they would more than likely be seen as “ugly” or "weird" as awful as that is. Even though throughout the entire story Two Eyes is mistreated,she forgives and forgets how horribly she has been treated, and welcomes her sisters with open arms when they come to her door begging. I found this to be surprising and unlike other tales I have read.  

In many of the tales that I have read, these are completely opposite of the "norm."  Typically, the one who is different is the one that is the outcast. The extremes, meaning the youngest and the oldest, are usually the ones that are targeted or featured in the tales.  Cruel treatment is usually a result of mixed families (step-children and -mothers).  And, something terrible happens to those who do the punishing, and we do not hear anything about them again.Of all these differences, the one that I keep returning to over and over again is that Two-Eyes takes in her sisters at the end of the story.  She completely forgives and forgets.  As the last sentence in my version states,

"Two-eyes however, made them welcome, and was kind to them, and took care of them, so that they both with all their hearts repented the evil that they had done their sister in youth."

This is what I like to think is the true happy ending!  Despite the poor choices made, the harm that was done, in the end, kindness and love is stronger than evil and will always win out in the end which I believe was the overall message in this tale. 

Rianna Seelig and Kerry Brooks Discussion Leading Questions

1.) Great attention is given to the physicality of women in multiple tales. What is the significance of female bodies within the tales? How does a woman's beauty effect her treatment within the tales?

• "Once upon a time there lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature that ever was seen."-Little Red Riding Hood
• "The two ugly maidens replied that they had another sister, but they dared not let him see her, for she had only two eyes, like common people... and the knight was astonished to find her so beautiful."-One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes

2.) How does the prominence of female narrators/protagonists effect how you interpret and receive the story? Would you feel differently about certain tales if told from the perspective of a man?

3.) How is "The Beautiful Dancer of Yedo" different from the other tales? In what ways does the tale explore more mature themes and what effect does this have on the message of the tale?

4.) How is disability portrayed in the tales? What effect does disability have on the fate of the characters?

• "Now because little Two Eyes looked just like other people, her mother and sisters could not endure her. They said to her, 'You are not better than common folks, with your two eyes; you don't belong to us.'"-One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes

Folk Tales 1

In class we discussed how the female characters tended to make silly mistakes, like Snow White continuously letting the witch into the house when she really should have known better. However, she didn't really know better because she was really innocent. I think within these tales, beauty and innocence become one in the same. Both Snow White and Rapunzel are characterized as being beautiful, Snow White with "none as so fair as she" according to the mirror and Rapunzel's beautiful hair. These characters make mistakes but it ends up being all right because they are innocent/beautiful.
This reminded me a lot of Bess. In the beginning, Venters didn't really know just how innocent she was, but she still seemed innocent. Then as she kept maturing in front of his eyes, he couldn't think of her as being innocent because of being near Oldring. However, when Venters finds out she never did anything with Oldring, she is at the point completely innocent and completely a matured woman to Venters. I think this is a really interesting point to look at if comparing these two stories how all the authors paralleled innocence with beauty so you may not physically see innocence but you can see beauty. Their bodies become a way that the reader can observe the innocence of a character from the outside.

Folk Tales (1)

In reading the four tales, there was one tale that had an aspect that I really liked, that I think ties in with how we are looking at the body in our readings. In Little Snow White, it starts,

"Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the sky, a queen sat at a window sewing, and the frame of the window was made of black ebony. And whilst she was sewing and looking out of the window at the snow, she pricked her finger with the needle, and three drops of blood fell upon the snow. And the red looked pretty upon the white snow, and she thought to herself, "Would that I had a child as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as the wood of the window-frame"

Later, when we learn that the Queen gave birth to a daughter, we also learn that her wish cam true. It said,

"Soon after that she had a little daughter, who was as white as snow, and as red as blood, and her hair was as black as ebony; and she was therefore called Little Snow-white." 

When I read this tale, I just really liked how the description of colors was used so vividly. A fantastic image of  what Little Snow White physically looks like is created with the use of these quotations and colors. The red looked pretty upon the white of the snow, so we know that Little Snow White's skin is very white, but that it is red as blood, so I image her cheeks with little natural blushes of red.. Because the red looked pretty on the white snow, we should assume that the red in Little Snow White's skin added to her beauty.

I just liked the choice in language for this section of the tale. The connections with what the Queen was seeing in the physical body of the world around her and how the same use of color was used to create beauty in the physical appearance of the girl was just nice to read for me. I also really liked how they chose to not only write that the wood of the window frame and her hair was black, it was black ebony, it just seems to give the description a strong affect, and I really liked it.

-Jessica Mitchell 

Folktales

Reading Folktales (1) was a very interesting experience for me. I noticed how I like having a physical book in my hands rather than reading electronically. When I have the physical book in my hands, I am less distracted by other things I can do on my computer and also I can just focus on the words on the paper.

Regarding the actual folktales, I noticed one thing that most of them had in common, which was the use of animals and other creatures who were characterized with human traits. For example in "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Little Snow White," characters such as wolf and seven dwarfs are used in order to bring the tales to extremities. The circumstances and characters also make the tales very fun to read, which is why I think little kids like tales so much. 

My theory is that little kids have a certain perception of tales, which is a fun transition into reading more dense material. However, tales are also for adults because adults can look deeper into the tale and extract deeper meaning/lessons applicable to every day life.

In terms of embodiment, I noticed that the descriptions of the characters' bodies are more simple in the tales than the characters of the books we have read. There are minimalistic adjectives and less sensory descriptions used. For example in "Repunzel," Repunzel is described with "wonderful long hair, and it was as fine as spun gold" (Grimm) The author did not describe Repunzel's hair in a way that makes a reader feel some type of way or connect the decryption with something they have/have experienced in their life.

Tales are different than novels, clearly, and I do have to admit they are a nice break from analyzing the dramatic novels. However, I like reading novels better for a few reasons. First off, the physical aspect of holding a book in my hands is very comforting to me. Secondly, I love the more dense material that I can interpret and take lots of notes on. I am excited to start My Year of Meats soon!

 

MIREKU MICHAEL CBI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2pcDr93Peg&index=2&list=FLYX8aXyhU4dJXFkel3Hx0Kw

For my CBI, I decided to connect and make a comparison between the physical body that exists in today's world and connect it back to what we have discussed throughout our primary readings this semester.

Throughout chapters five and six, we see a few instances where an altered physical appearance is present. For example, madrina gives birth to a monstrous baby with two heads.


        "…I learned my marina had given birth to a monster."


This video  brings up a controversial issue of what society thinks of  about this people  physical appearance in the book and today's world with these defects? and what the authors trying to tell the world?



We also meet a man named Riad Halabí, who suffered a cleft lip. He was a very sweet man and treats Eva well.



http://www.uichildrens.org/cleft-palate-faqs/
Cleft palate is the most common birth defect that occurs. It happens in about 1 in 700 births. It is not a fatal problem. Most children born with clefts do well in developed countries. They may have difficulties with feeding initially, but with proper guidance, parents learn to feed their child with a cleft, and the child learns to compensate for the cleft during the first months after birth. Clefts are repaired within the first year of life, usually by a surgeon who has extensive experience and training with this disorder. We believe that there are genetic causes in some children, we believe that there are environmental causes in other children, and in many children we suspect there is an interaction between genetics and environment. And by environment I mean the environment in which the baby develops in-utero, and the environment in which the mother lives. We know that exposure to alcohol abuse predisposes the baby in the womb to birth defects that may include cleft palate

Dino Salkic CBI

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/580694-why-aging-brains-are-more-vulnerable-to-alzheimers/

This article focuses on the susceptibility of the aging brain to Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. It states that aging leads to the formation of neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Tangles are made from a protein called tau that becomes sticky and aggregates through phosphorylation. It has been found that tangles form in neurons in higher brain circuits of the aging primate brain, yet the sensory cortex is left undamaged. The damage occurs because tau forms at the synapses of neurons, preventing cell-to-cell communication and leading to brain degeneration and atrophy.

PDE4A, a phosphodiesterase, is found to be absent in aged brains. PDE4A is found at the synapses of neurons and inhibits a chemical "vicious cycle" that causes phosphorylation of tau. Aging brains are therefore much more susceptible to forming Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia due to the absence of PDE4A, which then leads to severe cognitive impairment and memory loss.

As the novel progresses into this last section of chapters, Amabelle has significantly aged and has begun to lose her memory with her age. The Generalissimo has been killed, and Amabelle discusses her relationship with Yves, which has grown very bland. Their relationship is described by this statement: "The careful words exchanged between people whose mere presence reminds each other of a great betrayal." Amabelle says that she wishes Yves would have found himself a woman to love, and that she felt as if she did not have a connection with family or friends, or a loved one like Sebastian. She states:

"I didn't have the strength to travel in search of distant relations whose lives had gone well enough without me; I didn't even know if they would recognize me if they saw me."

This quote shows Amabelle's inability to build meaningful relationships. Even her relationship with Yves, who traveled with Amabelle in surviving the killing of the Haitians, has grown sour. Father Romain, on the other hand, has put religion aside and decided to build his own relationship, and now has a wife and three young boys. He states that prayers could not heal him after the slaughter and his imprisonment, but says that for him to heal "it took holding a pretty and gentle wife and three new lives against my chest." He continues to say that "it took a love closer to the earth, closer to my own body, to stop my tears." Father Romain realized that building meaningful relationships and having that connection with other people helped him deal with his struggles, while Amabelle, who had lost so much, had a difficult time building such relationships and continued to struggle internally with the slaughter and the loss of her parents. Both constantly appear in her dreams. She states that, without Sebastian, "I regretted that we hadn't found more comfort in each other," referring to Yves.

In her old age, Amabelle has become forgetful and even fearful of forgetting important aspects of her life. In her dream about Sebastian in chapter 40, Amabelle states that "I sense that we no longer know the same words, no longer speak the same language. There is water, wind, land, and mountains between us, a shroud of silence, a curtain of fate." Amabelle continually has dreams about Sebastien, but here states that she no longer has that connection with him that she used to have in her dreams. She is becoming forgetful of the man she once loved, which at her old age can be due to some form of dementia or a defense mechanism.

Near the end of the novel, Amabelle listens to a tour guide discuss Henry I's citadel. "Famous men never truly die," he says, "It is only those nameless and faceless who vanish like smoke into the early morning air."You do not die if someone remembers your name, and Amabelle, after the massacre, attempts to remember the names of those that have perished. She wants to keep their stories alive, and if she forgets them she fears all of her stories will be like "a fish with no tail, a dress with no hem, a drop with no fall, a body in the sunlight with no shadow." She will remember names, and Sebastien's most of all. Amabelle's dreams are where Sebastien and her parents will be remembered most, while in reality she is struggling to keep their memories alive.

Once Amabelle visits Algeria, so much has changed that she is unable to recognize the land that she could have before the slaughter occurred. She is looking for Señora Valencia, but she travels to over two dozen different houses before finding the right one that was described to her. When Amabelle and Señora Valencia meet again, the Señora is unable to recognize Amabelle by her physical features, especially her voice. This surprises Amabelle, who must then give Señora Valencia specific examples of what had occurred in her life to get her to recognize her. The Señora finally believes her once she states the story of how Señor Pico found Amabelle near the stream, at which point she was taken in to be part of the family.

At the end of the story, when Amabelle reminisces about her parents, she states that "nature has no memory. And soon, perhaps, neither will I." Amabelle is afraid of losing the memory of her parents outside of her nightmares, especially with her old age. She fears the same thing regarding Sebastien. Amabelle seems to live in two separate worlds. One being in her dreams and nightmares where she is able to recall memories of her parents and Sebastien, and the other being in real life, where she is slowly losing the grip she had on the memories of her parents and Sebastien. It's a constant struggle for Amabelle to keep those memories alive, and it seems that with her old age her memories will just continue to fade.

Chelsea Ottman CBI

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/01/03/168567019/you-cant-see-it-but-youll-be-a-different-person-in-10-years

This article is from the NPR about how people change over time. It focuses on a study done with about 19,000 people who all took surveys. There were questions about their personality traits, their core values and preferences. Some people were asked to look back on how they changed over the past 10 years. Others were asked to predict how they thought they would change in the next decade... They found that people underestimated how much they will change in the future. People just didn't recognize how much their seemingly essential selves would shift and grow. And this was true whether they were in their teen years or middle-aged. Life is a process of growing and changing, and what our results suggest is that growth and change never really stops."

To relate this back to Farming of Bones, my interest in how people change over time came from something that Amabelle is thinking about on the bottom of page 229. "At night, lying next to Yves, I grew more and more frightened that Sebastian would not recognize me if he ever saw me again." I think that this article relates to Farming of Bones because throughout the book we see Amabelle changing throughout the book. I think that Amabelle grows up a lot during the book, and that she is maturing because of the things that she has seen and has gone through. I believe that her saying that she is afraid that Sebastian may not recognize her is something that may be possible. She has not only mentally matured and changed throughout the book, she has also changed physically because of the beating that happened to her. Sebastian may not immediately recognize Amabelle when he sees her again because she has changed and matured in a mental and physical way. Also, we don't get a sense of the length of time that it has been since Amabelle last saw Sebastian, and it might have been a while since they have seen each other.

"One possibility is that it's just really, really hard to imagine a different, future version of yourself. Or maybe people just like themselves the way they are now, and don't like the idea of some unknown change to come.

This quote from the article explains what Amabelle could be going through right now with her thoughts about Sebastian. Amabelle doesn't want to think that Sebastian could forget her, and she doesn't want it to be true that everything could end up changing between her and Sebastian. We know that Amabelle wishes that her and Sebastian could get married, but we still don't know how things are going to end up. I think that Amabelle doesn't want to accept the possibility that her future could possibly be without Sebastian. She doesn't want to accept that things could change.

The farming of bones

Hey everyone!

Adding to today's discussion. I have a few quotes that I want to add. In chapter 24 when Pico was showing Senora Valencia how use a gun. On page 136 "He line up her hands to fire once more she shook her body free, leaned forward, lowered her eyes to the top of the gun barrel, then pulled the trigger. A calabash cracked from the tree across the yard and fell." I think this gives a good description of her stance. Another quote i found that was interesting was that a women said about Generalissimo. On page 170 in chapter 27, "Let him continue to lead us with a strong hand and an even stronger heart." Those quotes just stuck out to me while reading. Thats all for now.

Jessica Mitchell- CBI

http://www.latinpost.com/articles/8095/20140303/skin-color-politics-african-diaspora-latinos-in-america-latin-america-denouncement-of-ethnic-identity.htm

 

This is an article, posted in the Latin Post last week, focuses on a chemical cream that can make a person with darker skin appear to be lighter, and can also get rid of blemishes like birthmarks. It discusses the cream and how its affects can be seen in the drastic changes in the skin color of ex-Cubs baseball player, Sammy Sosa. It discusses some recent information learned about the cream that he used to change his skin color, and also asks if using this cream denounces a person’s ethnic identity.

Sosa, originally a medium-to-dark skin tone Dominican man has been noticed, ever since his retirement, in 2007, with progressively lighter skin. Sosa was previously thought to have a skin condition that caused a change in the pigmentation of his face. However, a very drastic change in his skin color was noticed when he appeared at the 2009 Latin Grammys in Las Vegas. The article states, “His usual medium-to-dark skin tone was suddenly a pasty alabaster, and he smiled as if he'd just won the World Series,” while fans were shocked at his transformation, calling him “downright vampiric”.

 

According to the article, “The application of melanin-concentrated chemical creams that strips away color, and otherwise whitens, lightens, brightens, or bleaches skin, is an emerging process that’s often marketed to remove blemishes, birthmarks, and moles, but historically and continuously used for the overall whitening of dark skin tones.”This is the same type of chemical cream that Sosa admitted to using in 2009. He said that he had been using for a long time and that the cream is the reason he appears lighter in color than he was. However, he claims that he used it solely to soften his skin, and that the lighter skin was just a side effect.

 

In the novel, we see in many instances that the characters are racially defined and judged by their body appearance, specifically their skin color. Amabelle is a servant, Sebastien, with “crisscrossed trails of furrowed scars on his shiny black face” (1), and his friends, Kongo, Yves, and many others, are cane workers- all these are jobs and labels that only those of darker skin have. They are looked at as the lower end of the totem pole solely based on their skin color. We can also see this general idea in Chapter 20 when Senor Pico was burying Rafi’s clothing, “He wanted to carry out the task himself, not allowing Luis to dig, as would have been expected,” (102). Based on the color of their skin they are expected to do certain things.

Also, we see a case of judgment, based on skin color, from Senor Pico in that same chapter. Senora Valencia invited Sebastien and Kongo, along with others, to have coffee with her, and as soon as she told Senor what she did, he reacted by using skin color for his reasoning. “…once he discovered that she had used their imported orchid-patterned tea set, he took the set out to the yard…he shattered the cups and saucers, one by one,” (116). Since we know that Senor Pico’s skin color is a bit darker than his wife’s, these actions may point to the fact that Senor Pico feels that he needs to set himself as far apart from those of color as he can, so that he not identified as one of them. We can also see this mind set of Senor Pico in his interactions with Rosalinda, in the many instances that he will not hold his daughter. She is of darker skin, and he does not want to have that connection to her.

Finally, Felice’s character has, “a hairy beet-colored birthmark like a mustache over her lip,” (61).  I noticed that this character is not a very prominent one, however, every time she is mentioned, so is her birthmark. For example, in chapter 22, we see that Kongo could not even talk about Felice, without out acknowledging a difference in her physical appearance when he says, “The one with the big mark under her nose, she is young, and the young do not stay young by keeping watch on the past,” (122). Again in chapter 26, Felice is mentioned right alongside the fact she has a unique birthmark. She was talking to Amabelle, “’Your face’ she asked, the birthmark rising and falling with every movement of her lips,” (162).  These are really the only three times the Felice is in the novel significantly and her birthmark is mentioned every time that she is.  

When thinking about this article and The Farming of Bones, I think that the fact that is now possible for someone today to take something that may be seen as an imperfection about their physical appearance, and change that for good is very interesting. The fact that people are willing to put themselves through such a thing (the chemical literally burns their skin) says something about how society still perceives those of color differently, as well as those with unusual markings on their skin. These perceptions are definitely seen in the novel on numerous occasions, and sadly they are still very prominent in our society today. The fact that Sammy Sosa felt that he would be happier being lighter skinned displays how darker skin color is still looked at as different. 

If this cream was around in the time of these characters, the novel would have the potential to be very different. The characters of color could have the opportunity to appear lighter and that could change the way that they are looked at in the social class. In the case, of Senor Pico, he could make his skin, and if he really wanted to, the skin of his daughter’s appear to be more the color of his wife, which I think would change a lot about the novel. The development of this cream is just very interesting in the possibilities that are out there concerning these issues that are seen in the novel, as well as in our society today.

The Farming of Bones so far

There has been a lot of talk about race and social class as themes of this book and one quote that I thought was really interesting was on page 11 when the twins were just born and Señora Valencia says "My daughter is a chameleon. She's taken your color from the mere sight of your face." I thought it was interesting how Amabelle doesn't really have a reaction to that but also how innocent a thing like that is to say. Señora Valencia would understand her baby's color difference if she had slept with another man but this quote makes it seem like she hadn't. Which we find out that Rosalinda favors Señor Pico's color but it makes me wonder if there was ever an issue with him being mistaken for a Haitian.

That could be the reason that he starts to act out in the later chapters. For once he had something to make sure that he would always be known as a respected military man, light skinned son. He didn't have to worry what people would say about him once he was gone because he had his son as an heir and wouldn't be associated with the Haitians.

We also talked about the color indigo and why it is used so much in the book and a lot of times purple is associated with royalty but at the same time it is the color of a bruise and I thought it could represent pain especially when she uses it on page seventy and is talking about her parents. Amabelle seems to feel lose in most of the things she does, even when she is talking to Sebastien that is the subject they have most in common.

I also liked how Amabelle pointed out the strangeness of Valencia and Pico's marriage on page 98. In a way, they were just discovering themselves and each other and death transformed their relationship. I think that foreshadows how their relationship will be in the future but also how they were labeled because of their sons death. They don't really have a connection, even then. Amabelle describes how they weren't quite comfortable and couldn't console each other in those moments.

Cory Jackson CBI

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/273748.php

This article focuses on research that suggests a possible link between the frequency of nightmares during childhood, and the eventual onset of psychotic experiences.  The article discusses that nightmares occur most frequently during Rapid Eye Movement sleep, one of five sleep stages that most individuals will experience over an average night of sleep.  During this time, the body's muscles are paralyzed and the brain undergoes an intense increase of activity.




This research studied the incidences of nightmares and night terrors that were experienced by 6,700 children in the United Kingdom.  These children were assessed a total of six times between the ages of 2 and 9 years, and then again at 12.  This study revealed that children reporting one period of nightmares between the ages of 2 and 9 years presented a 16% increased risk of having a psychotic experience in adolescence.  For children that experienced three or more periods of sustained nightmares, this risk increased by 56%. 

Overall, children that continued to experience nightmares at the age of 12 were 3.5 times more likely to suffer psychotic experiences which includes hallucinations, interrupted thoughts or delusions, during their early adolescence periods.  Experiencing night terrors at the age of twelve doubled the risk of undergoing a psychotic episode.

I chose to focus on an article regarding nightmares because of this alternating chapter pattern that has presented either Amabelle's dreams or her memories.  Within the first chapter of the book, she mentions that, "It's either be in a nightmare or be nowhere at all.  Or otherwise simply float inside these remembrances, grieving for who I was, and even more for what I've become."

The ninth chapter of the book dives into one of Amabelle's nightmares, where she depicts how her parents drowned in the river.  She states how if it was not for two young river boys that grabbed her, she would have followed her parents into death.  One of the river boys says, "Unless you want to die, you will never see those people again."

Again Amabelle's nightmares are displayed in chapter 23, where she states that she dreams of the sugar woman.  The depiction of the scene through Amabelle's eyes is rather terrifying, as she questions this woman, asking who she is and why she appears the way she does.  She mentions that she begins to think that Sebastien is responsible for this dream, that the sugar woman is what remains of a dead love he carries with him and into her arms.

And finally, the last connection that I want to discuss between this book and the article is when Yves begins talking in his sleep, with his eyes wide open.  Sebastien reveals that this has been a regular occurrence since the death of Joel, only a few days had passed at this point.  As dawn approaches, Yves consistently says, "Papa, don't die on that plate of food."  Sebastien later says that they were unable to sleep, as Yves was "squawking like a crazy parrot all night long."

Discussion Leading Questions Chapters 8-15 Kamrie & Maria

Chapter summary: Throughout chapters 8-15 we get a full description of how Amabelle's parents passed away, we see more development of the relationship between Amabelle and Sebastien, and we also see more relevance of the class structure starting with Joel being hit by the car. 

Question 1: This is not so much a question but it is something that caught our eye and we think should be paid attention to as we further our reading. In the beginning of the book it talked about how Amabelle was sewing a button on indigo colored shirt. (pg. 5) Then on page 16 it mentions the color indigo again and how the shutters of Señora Valencia's house were painted that shade. It mentions the color on page 47 talking about a shirt that was made out of indigo-dyed flour sacks. And finally, on page 70 talking about the bright indigo sky. So this is not so much an in depth question, but we are curious as to why the color keeps being mentioned? Why is this the reoccurring way she describes things.

Question 2: Why does the size and color of the children matter so much that Señor Pico would be so distracted and would hit someone with his automobile? On the bottom of page 38 we see this when Señor is asking Don Ignacio these questions over and over again. Wouldn't you think Señor Pico would be more interested in knowing if the children were healthy and if his Señora was well after giving birth?

Question 3: Death seems to be a huge part of the novel already and doesn't phase the characters greatly. (Sebastien's dad, Amabelle's parents, Valencia's mom, Kongo's son, and Yves' father all died) How do their reactions strike you as a reader? Should the deaths be a bigger deal then they are? 

Pg. 49 "Poor Kongo. Condolences, Kongo. Two new children came into the world while you have to put your son in the ground." 

Pg. 60 "I'd rather die young like Joel did." "I'd rather have death surprise me," she said loudly. "I don't want to wait a long time for it to come find me." Quote by Mimi

Question 4: "He ran both of his hands up and down my back. He had been this way the whole year we'd been together. His favorite way of forgetting something sad was to grab and hold onto somebody even sadder" (pg 54). Is this what they do for each other? Is Sebastien's way of expressing his sadness through touch, a way to get rid of it? They justify the deaths of their parents by meeting one another. Do you guys think this is morally right? … 

Question 5: We see the presence of social class emerge as a factor through these chapters. Page 63, 66, 68 and 70 show the social status between the Señora and Amabelle, "one of them and one of us"(the workers and the more wealthy) etc. Higher status is present and is also being practiced. What do you think about the social classes and why is it so stressed? Also, do you think it is going to lead to more war and death? Or do you simply think it is stressed as a matter of respect. 

Discussion Leading for "The Farming of Bones" chapters 16-23

Brief Synopsis:

In chapters 16-23 of “The Farming of Bones”, Papi finds out the boy, Joel, that Senor Pico hit and killed with his car was a son of one of the workers. Rafi ends up dying which is a complete shock and severely hurts Senora Valencia and Senor Pico. They hold a small ‘ceremony’ for him and Senora Valencia invites the cane workers to join them for coffee. Rosalinda is baptized soon afterwards. Sebastien has Kongo, as their replacement guardian in a way, to ensure Amabelle will save herself for him. We also learn more about Senora Valencia’s mother and Amabelle’s strange shadows, such as the sugar woman.

1. Throughout these chapters, we see how Senor Pico has some negative actions towards Amabelle and Rosalinda.

During Rafi’s ‘ceremony’ where his coffin is loaded into the car, Senor Pico kisses his wife’s forehead and “he avoided his daughter’s tiny hand, which she intuitively held out towards her father as if in recognition of his face… her gesture was like her own way of making amends for having lived in her brother’s place…” (112)

Later, at Rosalinda’s baptism, Amabelle kisses her forhead and “Senor Pico yanked his wife’s arm pulled her away, almost making the senora drop the child.”(119)

Why do you think Senor Pico resents Rosalinda and Amabelle?

Note: Earlier in the novel, it mentions Senor Pico had “honey-almond skin… he was the one that baby Rosalinda resembled most.” (35)

2. It is also important to look at the author of this novel to better understand the characters’ bodies and the body of the book.

http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2005-A-Fi/Danticat-Edwidge.html

Edwidge Danticat (pronounced Ed-WEEDJ Dan-ti-KAH) was born in Port-au-Prince Haiti on January 19, 1969. She immigrated to the United States  in 1981, joining her parents who were developing a life for them in New York City. She had trouble fitting in at school because of her clothing, hair, and accent. In an interview she mentions “she took refuge from the isolation she felt by writing about her native land”

Quote from this article about her work: "Danticat's work emphasizes in particular the heroism and endurance of Haitian women as they cope with a patriarchal culture that, in its unswerving devotion to tradition and family, both oppresses and enriches them. Readers will find massacres, rapes, [and] horrible nightmares in Danticat's fiction … but above all these are the strength, hope, and joy of her poetic vision."

Why is Edwidge Danticat’s life and body significant to this novel?

And in relation to this and question 1, why would she include Pico, a character that looks down upon Haitians?

3. These chapters begin with Rafi’s death which is very embodied. His “cheeks were drawn, his jaws had collapsed, his face bore an even more pallid shade in death.” (87) Doctor Jarvis later says “He stopped breathing. I thought Rosalinda was the one in danger but he was the one whose strength failed”. (90)

Why did Rafi die instead of Rosalinda? Why in this way?

Addition:

In this section of the book, we witness Rafi pass away. Plans for the funeral begin after some grieving, and a wonderful service is planned for Rafi. 

"Once the coffin was built, Señora Valencia was determined to do something herself for her lost child. She wanted to decorate the lid with red orchids before her son could be placed inside. The men carried the coffin to the old sewing room of Rafi's grandmother, where the body lay in repose behind the dreamy gauze of the lowered mosquito net framing the four-poster canopy bed, his hands crossed over his heart and a crystal rosary laced between his tiny fingers, the glassy beads spilling over onto the bedsheet like frozen tears (pg 89).

Then on page 95, "All of Dona Eva's guests from the Mass came to offer their felicitations for the child they could see and their silent condolences for the lost one. In spite of her earlier insistence that there would be no viewing of her son's body, Señora Valencia allowed anyone who asked to file pas the bed where he lay, looking as proud of him in death as she would have been in life."

We already know that Joel passed away, and we find out in this section what was done with his body. On page 108, Amabelle and Don Ignacio are talking. "'No funeral for Joel,' he said. 'I wanted to bury him where he was born, I did, but he was too heavy to carry so far. I buried him where he died in the ravine. I buried him in a field of lemongrass, my son. He was one of those children who grew like the weeds in the fields, my son. Didn't need nobody or nothing, but he did love his father. It wasn't ceremonious the way I buried him, I know. No clothes, no coffin, nothing between him and the dry ground. I wanted to give him back to the soil the way his mother passed him to me on the first day of his life.'"

Why did the families of the people who passed away decide on such different burials for their children? What is the significance of the differences between the burials?