Politics Of Political Rape In Haiti: A Rape Culture Study Of Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory

Abstract

Literature is linked closely to the issues of human life. Politics and literature are the major and most influential issues in the whole world since both can direct the track of peoples' lives. One of the countries which are influenced by the political and military conflict is Haiti. This conflict was the subject matter of the Haitian novelist, Edwidge Danticat. She depicts the suffering of Haitian people through her literary works. In order to understand the atrocities and rape scandals in Haiti, Danticat’s works must be studied through a proper literary theory.  In this context, Rape culture came a cross with Susan Brownmiller's Against Our Will (1975). Brownmiller developed this concept, thus she located rape culture as part of patriarchy. She visualized it as “rape supporting culture”. The present study aims at reflecting the abusive Macoutes, a militia that destroyed thousands of women in Haiti. Also, it includes the socio-cultural and political forces that embodied in Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994). The novel, generally speaking, provides a general view on Haiti and the hideousness politics.