Communication is a problem for many people today. Communication is often used by authors to create or destroy relationships. Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker is a novel where many characters have trouble communicating their past, whereas others do well. The theme is evident throughout the novel, but three stories in particular, “Seven”, ‘Night Talkers”, & ‘Monkey Tails’, are particularly revealing. Danticat uses the theme of communication to illustrate the idea that people are more accepting when they communicate their secrets and past.
In the story “Seven”, the man and his spouse are introduced. Since seven years, they haven’t spoken to each other. After such a long time apart, barriers begin to form. They are aware that they’ve missed one another and love eachother but don’t quite know how they should act. It’s almost awkward. He is not sure how to tell her he love her. The husband thinks it over and then says “It’s a shame that the Creole word for love is renmen. It also means like.” (Danticat 43). So instead of saying I love her, he will have to use the word in a sentence. He didn’t have anything to say because of the seven-year separation. Aside from this, they also have affairs that neither of them shares. The language barrier is another obstacle. He has been in America seven year before his wife arrived and is used to the way of life. The wife is having a difficult time because she does not know the city and cannot speak English, creating a barrier to communication. The more time they spend not talking about their seven-year history, the greater the barrier that separates them. Danticat uses lack of communication in order to prove that hiding your past will make it harder to move forward.
The story “Night Talkers” is next. Night Talkers, as defined by 98, are “people who do not wet their sheets with urine or words but instead with words”. The title of this chapter was chosen because it contains many characters who share this characteristic. Estina is the first night-talker we encounter. Dany, a young New Yorker who lives in Haiti, returns to his hometown to tell his Aunt Estina that he has found the person who murdered his parents many years ago. Estina embraces the past, and does not feel ashamed about it. Dany does not share this view, despite his desire to talk about the past. Dany is having a “chatty night” and dreams of talking to his aunt about who killed his parents. His own voice wakes him. He finds that his aunt has also woken up when he awakes. As she fell asleep, he heard her murmur words as she slept. Eventually, these words became the last words that he ever heard her say. Claude is the last night-talker we encounter. Danticat describes Claude, the last night talker we meet, as being more fortunate than other nighttalkers because he’s able to share his nightmares with others. Due to his limited English, he is not always able to do this. The theme of communication is present throughout the book. Dany is not able to communicate with his aunt about what he would have liked to. But the communication does seem to have happened. The two are night talkers and there is a connection that creates an unconscious form of communication.
“Monkey Tails” also touches on the subject of communication. Michel is at the center of this story. Michel, who is originally from Haiti, has a complex past. Michel, however, is more open about his past than most other characters. Michel is determined to not hide his past like his mother. So he writes a memoir for his son. The whole chapter is a way of communicating. He shares his past as a child and his current role as a dad with his son to avoid a possible relationship barrier, similar to Ka and Mr. Bienaime. Michel reveals that he didn’t have a dad growing up, and then finds out that his father was right next door. It makes it easier to accept. Danticat created michel as a contrast to other characters like Mr. Bienaime and Dany and the man in seven.
Danticat uses communication as a metaphor for many things. “Seven” shows how a lack of communication for so long can have a negative impact on a relationship. In “Night Talkers”, Danticat shows that it’s one thing to be aware of fear, but another to actually communicate it. In “Monkey Tails”, Danticat demonstrates that communication of the past can lead to better relationships between people. In general, all the chapters are based on the idea that communication makes it easier for people to move on and accept their secrets and the past. The problem of communication is one that still exists in the modern world. Many people are still afraid to talk about their pasts or don’t even know how.