Dewbreaker

For this week, I read the first three stories of Dewbreaker. I noticed that the women don't seem to be as subservient in the Haitian culture. Or at least, in this family, they don't seem to be as subservient. The wife in the second story cheated on her husband as much as he did. So there was a kind of equal power there. They didn't feel guilty enough to tell each other.

In the third story, the daughter is brought up not to value Christmas. She and her father enjoy criticizing the houses that spend a lot money on Christmas decorations. There was some female and male roles in the first story. When the father reveals that he tortured people in jail, the daughter asked the mother how she could love him. The mother revealed that they needed to love him to save him. There is a feeling of the female role being the warmth and comfort. The female is supposed to console the male and bring stability back to his life. Meanwhile, the male's role is wild and uncontrolled. The male's role is to face danger. They need to be brought back home by the female.

I found it interesting how it was acceptable for the family to keep secrets from each other. Each family member had a hidden past. They never had to share them, but they still had trust in one another. The secrecy worked.