Teresa's Beginning Interpretation of “Krik Krak”

In the book “Krik Krak,” there are two narrators, a male and a female, who are very much in love. As tonton macoutes took over their home town, the male narrator tries to escape on a boat with many others. As the two are apart, they write journals that record every little detail on everything going on in each other’s lives hoping to exchange journals when reuniting.

In this book, the tonton macoutes seem to be torturing many people and taking over Haiti. While reading this book, I was reminded of many other massacres that took place in the world. In the book “Krik Krak,” the author goes into great detail on how the soldiers killed and forced people to do things. For instance, the female narrator explains what the soldiers would do, “If they come into a house and there is a son and mother there, they hold a gun to their heads. They make son sleep with his mother. If it is a daughter and father, they do the same thing.” These stories that both narrators tell reminds me of all the war related violence that happened in other nations such as Africa, Iraq, and Asia etc. While reading this book, I thought about genocides that has taken place in certain nations in the past and even today.

It amazes me how despite everything going on in Haiti, the two narrators are able to keep a love so strong in the beginning of the book. But the female narrator fails to work on the relationship she has with her father. It seems as if the father always resented her for choosing to love a man he disapproves of. Just from reading the beginning of the book it seems as if the father has a dictator personality towards his family. For instance, as the female narrator’s mother (manman) states, “The soldiers can come and do with us what they want. That makes papa feel weak, she says. He gets angry when he feels weak.” The father has a problem with feeling weak when he can’t protect his family and he shows his controlling side when he opposes his daughter’s love for the male narrator. The book “Krik Krak” has many connections that can be made to true life situations.