Faith and Identity in Danticat and O'Connor's Short Stories

Introduction: Religion and Identity in Two Short Stories

Edwidge Danticat and Flannery O'Connor both explore the influence of religion in creating a belief system for individuals who have been disconnected from society's mainstream, in their short stories "Nineteen Thirty-Seven" and "The River," respectively. Characters in both stories have been abandoned by humanity and strive to regain their identity through God's grace. Danticat uses Manman, a poverty-stricken Haitian woman who has been accused of being a witch and incarcerated, while O'Connor incorporates Bevel, a very young boy from an affluent family who has been discounted as a human being and forsaken by his parents. Both Manman and Bevel use religion — specifically Christianity — to help them find an identity under hostile conditions.

Contrasting Social Worlds: Haiti and Affluent America

Danticat's story is set in Haiti, in a society dominated by poverty and superstitious beliefs. Manman is hauled out of her home one morning, beaten by her neighbors, and put in prison. She is incarcerated as a witch solely on the accusation of a neighbor whose child had died during the night. All of the inmates in the prison are women who had been accused of causing the death of a child by "rising from the ground like birds on fire" (p. 38). From these scenes the reader can gather that Haitian justice is arbitrary and that individual freedom is precarious. The author presents a society in chaos, where citizens live in fear of the unknown and vigilantism supersedes law. It is a culture of poverty in which people are so consumed by the effort to meet their basic needs that they have little time to question the status quo, perpetuating their hopeless condition because it is all they know.

In contrast, O'Connor's story centers on Bevel, a child whose parents view him more as a burden than a blessing. He is left with a babysitter, Mrs. Connin, who does not even know his name. Unlike Manman, Bevel lives in a world of excess. "In his own room he had picture books and blocks but they were for the most part torn up; he found that the way to get new ones was to tear up the ones he had" (p. 43). O'Connor paints a picture of the world through the innocent eyes of a child. There is chaos in his world as well. His parents' lack of attention, concern, and guidance creates an unstable home where the child feels abandoned and is left to find his identity on his own. He is vulnerable to anyone or anything that will enhance his sense of self-worth. While Manman's prison is literal, Bevel's is psychological.

Parallel Societies and Conflicting Belief Systems

Though these two societies initially seem very different, they are in many ways quite similar. Early in Danticat's story, Josephine — Manman's daughter — is on her way to visit her in prison, carrying a statue of the Madonna that had been given to her great-great-great-grandmother by a Frenchman. Along the way she meets "an old woman carrying a jar of leeches" (p. 34). Leeches have a primitive medical application, hinting at the absence of modern science in the culture. The old woman is enthralled with the statue, and "her finger trembled as it moved across the Madonna's head. She closed her eyes at the moment of contact, her wrists shaking" (p. 34). The implication is one of inner conflict: the old woman is caught between two ideologies. She clearly yearns for something more to believe in, something to give her hope, yet remains reluctant — or afraid — to embrace it. This may be because she fears the consequences of appearing different from her neighbors.

O'Connor's story is driven by the dichotomy of two social classes. One, populated by Bevel's parents, is affluent and self-absorbed. The other is that of Mrs. Connin. Mrs. Connin is a religious woman with three children who works all night and is now babysitting Bevel during the day, presumably to make ends meet. Her husband is in a government hospital and, according to her, lacks faith: "…they taken one-third of his stomach. I tell him he better thank Jesus for what he's got left but he says he ain't thanking nobody." She tells Bevel about Jesus and later takes him to a healing at the river. Despite her difficult circumstances, O'Connor suggests it is Mrs. Connin's faith that sustains her, and Bevel intuits this.

Works Cited

Danticat, Edwidge. "Nineteen Thirty-Seven." Krik? Krak! New York: Soho Press Inc., 1995.

O'Connor, Flannery. "The River." A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories. New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1955.