Identity Wanderings between Isolation and Closeness in Postcolonial Women’s Writings

Abstract

Fragmentation and connexion are prevalent themes in this paper. It is from this basis that this research attempts at providing an in-depth analysis of the selected Haitian short story cycle of Edwidge Danticat’s The Dew Breaker (2004). In this respect, the reader will figure out the way characters deal with sequels of alienation and attempts to belonging, since the diasporic divide and the awareness of being alienated are major effects of migration and migrated people. From this standpoint, the research argues for a closer look at the narrative form that sheds light on people’s migration away from trauma of being killed, as in the case of the short story cycle. In bringing this vision into fruition, how can an alienated identity manage to belong in a new society? Could one’s identity remain steady while seeking refuge? Does this divide cause rifts over the self? The point is that the selected short stories from the novel are testimonies of Diaspora, thus, the analysis falls onto the untold upheavals that sway one’s identity in the journey of mourning and healing. As the title of the research paper suggests, and being faithful to the scope of postcolonialism, circumstances of marginalization are dealt with through characters, and investigating themes of alienation, belonging, nostalgia and Diaspora which connote the connection and disconnection between land and characters. Keywords