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.
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:
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?
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