Breath, Eyes, Memory | Themes

Immigration and Assimilation
Throughout the book, Sophie and Martine travel from Haiti to the United States, and back to Haiti. The contrasts between the two settings and cultures are vivid and all-encompassing, and as both women note, it is difficult to find your way in a foreign country. Both women learn to speak English—which Grandma Ife refers to as ‘‘that cling-clang talk,’’ and which Sophie says sounds ‘‘like rocks falling in a stream,'' but they also continue to speak their own language, Creole. They eat American food because Haitian food reminds them of...

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