symbol
This symbol, often associated with crossing boundaries and the site of violence, represents both life and death in the novel.
What is the Massacre River?
This Haitian woman serves as the novel’s protagonist and narrator, recounting her traumatic experiences during the 1937 massacre.
Who is Amabelle Desir?
Amabelle frequently reflects on this event from her childhood, which represents her first major experience with loss.
What is the death of Amabelle’s parents in the river?
Amabelle’s ability to survive the massacre is partly due to this instinct, which guides her through dangerous situations.
What is her will to live (or survival instinct)?
Amabelle and Sebastien often share this language, which connects them deeply, even in a foreign land.
What is Creole?
Representing Amabelle’s deep connection to Sebastien, this natural element is linked to memory, loss, and the fluidity of time.
Water
This character is Amabelle’s lover, a cane worker whose fate during the massacre remains uncertain.
Who is Sebastien Onius?
This group of people, who fled the massacre but left behind family and friends, constantly reminds Amabelle of the collective loss experienced by her community.
Who are the Haitian refugees and survivors?
Yves, a fellow survivor, embodies resilience by doing this after returning to Haiti, despite his emotional scars from the massacre.
What is farming (or returning to work the land)?
The inability to speak this language makes the Haitian workers in the Dominican Republic more vulnerable during the massacre.
What is Spanish?
This symbol, from the title itself, reflects the labor and suffering of Haitians working in the cane fields and also the delicate boundary between survival and death.
What are bones?
This Dominican family employs Amabelle, and their treatment of her shifts as tensions rise between Haitians and Dominicans.
Who are the Valencias?
This annual ritual, performed by many survivors, helps Amabelle and others keep alive the memory of the massacre and those who were lost.
What is visiting the Massacre River?
This recurring act in the novel symbolizes the characters’ attempts to heal and move forward, despite the horrors they’ve witnessed.
What is cleansing with water (or bathing in the river)?
This method of communication, used by survivors to pass down their stories, becomes crucial for preserving memory and identity after the massacre.
What is oral storytelling?
Used by Dominican soldiers to determine whether someone was Haitian or not, this herb becomes a symbol of life or death during the massacre.
What is parsley?
This character, a fellow Haitian migrant and friend of Amabelle, provides her comfort and support during the massacre.
Who is Yves?
In the final chapters, Amabelle dreams of reuniting with this person, a powerful reminder of her unresolved grief and longing.
Who is Sebastien?
Amabelle and the other survivors often cope with their pain by sharing these, which help them process their trauma together.
What are stories (or memories of the massacre)?
This small word, used as a test by Dominican soldiers to identify Haitians, becomes a symbol of life or death in the novel.
What is "perejil" (or parsley)?
These tools used in the cane fields represent both the hard labor of the Haitians and the violence of the massacre.
What are machetes?
This midwife and healer helps Amabelle when she is injured and symbolizes the connection to traditional Haitian culture.
Who is Señora Valencia’s mother, Man Rapadou?
Amabelle often experiences this physical reaction, which symbolizes the weight of her emotional burden and memories of the massacre.
What are her nightmares (or sleepless nights)?
After the massacre, Amabelle endures physical injuries and must rely on this traditional practice to heal, representing both survival and her connection to her roots.
What is herbal medicine (or natural healing)?
Language barriers highlight this theme, which emphasizes the divisions between Haitians and Dominicans throughout the novel.
What is alienation (or cultural division)?