Children of the Sea

        There are two main characters in "Children of the Sea", one is the girl and the other is a boy.  They are both nineteen or twenty, and they are in a relationship.  However, they cannot get along with each other because of many situations, such as the radio station violation, military suppression, and the girl under her father's control.  As a result, the boy has to leave the country and sail to Africa, and the girl is locked in her house.  They wrote the letters to each other often.  The bolded words are from the girl.  

  

        From the letter, we can tell that both two people worried and were afraid of their future, and both of them were suffering a strong missing and loneliness.  The boy has sailed away from the country in a small boat, and the environment on the boat is really bad.  The destination, Africa, does him no good because African discriminate Haiti even though they are in the same color and share the same ancestor.  Girl stayed at home missing the boy.  She wants to marry the boy and is ready to marry him, but her father refuses her and locks her up at home.  Her father thinks there should be another man to take care of her and bring more benefits to her.  Then, the society gets crazy, and the girl is in a more dangerous place. 

        Borning at the wrong time in a wrong place, it is so hard for people to follow their wills.  The most mournful love is produced in chaos.  "Children of the Sea" reminds me a movie I watched last year.  The movie is called Atonement.  It is mainly about in WWII, British, a servant and the young lady of that big mansion fall in love, but they are separated immediately because of war and hierarchy.  The man goes to the battlefield in France, and the lady becomes a nurse in London.  They are communicating by sending letters.  In the end, the man died on the day before Dunkirk Evacuation, and the woman died in an air raid.  They miss each other so much, and they believe the man will come back and they will live happily in a white house near the sea.  However, their wishes never happen.  What left in the end? Sunset, ocean, reed marshes, and miserable and gloomy atmosphere.  People's innocence, wishes, passionate hearts, and fragile hope make a tragedy even more miserable.   

Haiti and Edwidge Danticat

1. Timeline for Haiti's history from Independence to present

1821

President Boyer invades Santo Domingo following its declaration of independence from Spain. The entire island is now controlled by Haiti until 1844.

1838

France recognizes Haitian independence in exchange for a financial indemnity of 150 million francs. Over the next few decades Haiti is forced to take out loans of 70 million francs to repay the indemnity and gain international recognition.

1862

The United States grants Haiti diplomatic recognition sending Frederick Douglass as its Consular Minister.

1915

President Woodrow Wilson orders the U.S. Marines to occupy Haiti and establish control over customs-houses and port authorities. The Haitian National Guard is created by the occupying Americans. The Marines force peasants into corvée labor building roads. Peasant resistance to the occupiers grows under the leadership of Charlemagne Peralt, who is betrayed and assassinated by Marines in 1919.

1934

The U.S. withdraws from Haiti leaving the Haitian Armed Forces in place throughout the country.

1937

Thousands of Haitians living near the border of the Dominican Republic are massacred by Dominican soldiers under the orders of President General Trujillo.

1957

After several attempts to move forward democratically ultimately fail, military-controlled elections lead to victory for Dr. François Duvalier, who in 1964 declares himself President-for-Life and forms the infamous paramilitary Tonton Makout. The corrupt Duvalier dictatorship marks one of the saddest chapters in Haitian history with tens of thousands killed or exiled.

1971

"Papa-Doc" Duvalier dies in office after naming his 19 year-old son Jean-Claude as his successor.

1972

The first Haitian "boat people" fleeing the country land in Florida.

1976

Widespread protests against repression of the nation's press take place.

1970s-1980s

"Baby-Doc" Duvalier exploits international assistance and seeks to attract investment leading to the establishment of textile-based assembly industries. Attempts by workers and political parties to organize are quickly and regularly crushed.

1981

International aid agencies declare Haitian pigs to be carriers of African Swine Fever and institute a program for their slaughter. Attempts to replace indigenous swine with imported breeds largely fail.

1984

Over 200 peasants are massacred at Jean-Rabeau after demonstrating for access to land. The Haitian Bishops Conference launches a nation-wide (but short-lived) literacy program. Anti-government riots take place in all major towns.

1986

Widespread protests against "Baby Doc" lead the U.S. to arrange for Duvalier and his family to be exiled to France. Army leader General Henri Namphy heads a new National Governing Council.

1987

A new Constitution is overwhelmingly approved by the population in March. General elections in November are aborted hours after they begin with dozens of people shot by soldiers and the Tonton Makout in the capital and scores more around the country.

1988

Military controlled elections - widely abstained from - result in the installation of Leslie Manigat as President in January. Manigat is ousted by General Namphy four months later and in November General Prosper Avril unseats Namphy.

1990

Avril declares a state of siege in January. Rising protests and urging from the American Ambassador convince Avril to resign. A Council of State forms out of negotiations among democratic sectors, charged with running a Provisional Government led by Supreme Court Justice Ertha Pascal-Trouillot.

U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle visits Haiti and tells Army leaders, "No more coups." Assistance is sought from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations (UN) to help organize general elections in December.

In a campaign marred by occasional violence and death, democratic elections finally take place on December 16, 1990.

1991

Duvalierist holdover and Tonton Makout Dr. Roger Lafontant attempts a coup d'état to prevent Father Aristide's ascension to power. The Armed Forces quickly remove him from the National Palace following massive popular protest.

1992

Negotiations between the Washington, D.C. based exiled Government, Haiti's Parliament and representatives of the coup régime headed by General Raoul Cédras lead to the Washington Protocol, which is ultimately scuttled by the coup régime.  U.S. President George Bush exempts U.S. factories from the embargo and orders U.S. Coast Guard to interdict all Haitians leaving the island in boats and to return them to Haiti.The OAS embargo fails as goods continue to be smuggled through neighboring Dominican Republic. Haiti's legitimate authorities ask the United Nations to support a larger embargo in order to press the coup leaders to step down. The UN pledges to support efforts by the OAS to find a solution to the political crisis.

1993

President Aristide asks the Secretaries-General of the OAS and the UN for the deployment by the United Nations and OAS of an international civilian mission to monitor respect for human rights and the elimination of all forms of violence.

In June Haiti requests an oil and arms embargo from the UN Security Council in order to pressure the coup régime to give up power.

The UN calls for "strict implementation" of the embargo against the de facto authorities. The Civilian Mission's human rights observers are allowed to return in small numbers.

1994

In May additional sanctions were levied against the régime through a naval blockade supported by Argentine, Canadian, French, Dutch and U.S. warships.  Tensions increase as human rights violations continue. The Civilian Mission is told by the de facto authorities to leave the country. On October 15th, President Aristide and his Government-in-exile return to Haiti.

1995

In June Haiti hosts the annual OAS General Assembly at Montrouis.  Legislative elections take place that month and in December the presidential contest is won by former Prime Minister René Préval. (President Aristide is precluded by the Constitution from succeeding himself).

1996

President Préval is inaugurated in February. A Government is formed under Prime Minister Rosny Smarth. Agricultural production, administrative reform, and economic modernization are announced as the Goverment's priorities.

2.Haiti's fight for and gain of Independence:

Two months after his defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte’s colonial forces, Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaims the independence of Saint-Domingue, renaming it Haiti after its original Arawak name.

In 1791, a slave revolt erupted on the French colony, and Toussaint-Louverture, a former slave, took control of the rebels. Gifted with natural military genius, Toussaint organized an effective guerrilla war against the island’s colonial population. He found able generals in two other former slaves, Dessalines and Henri Christophe, and in 1795 he made peace with revolutionary France following its abolishment of slavery. Toussaint became governor-general of the colony and in 1801 conquered the Spanish portion of island, freeing the slaves there.

In January 1802, an invasion force ordered by Napoleon landed on Saint-Domingue, and after several months of furious fighting, Toussaint agreed to a cease-fire. He retired to his plantation but in 1803 was arrested and taken to a dungeon in the French Alps, where he was tortured and died in April.

Soon after Toussaint’s arrest, Napoleon announced his intention to reintroduce slavery on Haiti, and Dessalines led a new revolt against French rule. With the aid of the British, the rebels scored a major victory against the French force there, and on November 9, 1803, colonial authorities surrendered. In 1804, General Dessalines assumed dictatorial power, and Haiti became the second independent nation in the Americas. Later that year, Dessalines proclaimed himself Emperor Jacques I. He was killed putting down a revolt two years later.

3. Toussaint L'Ouverture:

François Toussaint Louverture was a former Haitian slave who led the only successful slave revolt in modern history. Standing steadfastly, he fought to end slavery and gain Haiti’s independence from European powers, France and Spain. Forming an army of former slaves and deserters from the French and Spanish armies, he trained his followers in guerrilla warfare and successfully ended slavery in Hispaniola by 1795.

4. Boukman

      Dutty Boukman was an early leader of the Haitian Revolution, enslaved in Jamaica and later in Haiti. He is considered to have been both a leader of maroons and vodou hougan (priest).  According to some contemporary accounts Boukman alongside Cécile Fatiman, a Vodou mambo, presided over the religious ceremony at Bois Caïman, in August 1791, that served as the catalyst to the 1791 slave revolt which is usually considered the beginning of the Haitian Revolution. Boukman was a key leader of the slave revolt in the Le Cap‑Français region in the north of the colony. He was killed by the French planters and colonial troops in 7 November 1791,  just a few months after the beginning of the uprising. The French then publicly displayed Boukman's head in an attempt to dispel the aura of invincibility that Boukman had cultivated.The fact that French authorities had to do this illustrates the impact Boukman made on the views of Haitian people during this time.

5. 1937, Dominican Massacre

In September of 1937, the massacre of thousands of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic commenced. Rafaél Trujillo ordered his military to exterminate the Haitian population in order to cleanse the Dominican population of “foreigners.”

Most of the massacre occurred next to the border at what is now known as Massacre River, and was most casualties occurred from October 7th-12th when the Dominican Republic and Haiti drafted a diplomatic agreement to work towards peaceful relations as well as an official investigation into the massacre. In the course of the month, it is estimated that 20,000 Haitians were killed although the exact number is not known.

6. Rafael Trujillo

Trained by U.S. Marines in 1918 and elevated to commander in chief of the National Army by 1927, General Rafael Trujillo (1891-1961) assumed control of the Dominican Republic in 1930. While successful in reducing foreign debt and fostering greater economic prosperity for the Dominican people, Trujillo and his heinous human rights abuses—including the murder of thousands of civilians—managed to escape rebuke from the international community for decades. Although his reputation became tarnished after reports of a massacre against an estimated 20,000 Haitians became public in 1937, it wasn’t until his failed assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Romulo Betancourt in 1960 that the Organization of American States finally voted to sever relations with the brutal dictator. A year later, Trujillo was killed by a group of rebels determined to topple his regime.

Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat:

1.  Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian-American novelist and short story writer.

2.  She was born in 1969.

3.  She has a younger brother.

4.  She is religious

5.  She can speak Haitian Creole, English, and French.

6.  She began writing at nine years old.

7.  She moved to Brooklyn, New York, to join her parents when she was 12 years old.

8.  When she was two years old, her father immigrated to New York, so she and her brother were raised in uncle and aunt's house.

9.  She fought discrimination, and most her books talk about the national identity, mother-daughter relationships, and diasporic politics.

10.  She has a website.  On the website, she is selling her new book, which is called "The Art of Death".  In her introduction of the book, "It is at once a personal account of her mother dying from cancer and a deeply considered reckoning with the ways that other writers have approached death in their own work."  I would love to read it after applying to college.

11.  She said, "Writing has been the primary way I have tried to make sense of my losses."   I am impressed, and I'd love to borrow this sentence one day.

Reflection on Theater

The Subjects I Know Well:

1.  I understood the most terms of the theatre and the terms of acting, including acting terms and stage terms.
2.  I understood Uta Hagen's and Viola Spolin's theories, and I think it is good for us to use Viola Spolin's improvisation game and Uta Hagen's nine questions to practice acting.
3.  I know the terms of stage design, including props, set pieces, and backdrop.


I Need More Work On:
1.  I need more improvisation acting practice to improve my ability to handle the emergency on the stage.  In addition, I need more improvisation acting practice with partners, so that we can know each other more to have a better cooperation.
2.  I need to review Stanislavski's method and many other theorists that have the different theories.
3.  I need to work on remembering the type of the stages and the function of each type.
4.  I need to know the abbreviation of theatre terms to get the point that I lost on the test back.

mini performance

       Three different groups showed different theme by different styles of performance.  Nan's group has race as their theme, the theme of Helen, David and Joey's group is violence, and the theme of our group was police.

       For the race and violence themes, the two words are abstract, but both of them made great performance that they were easy to be understood.  Especially, I like the way they choose to perform.  Race is more like group of people's identities, and different identities are all independent and special, so it is really good for Nan, David and Josh to pick one identity each and pick the monologue from them.   They all tell their stories, with icons, like the religion for Jews and raps for the black.  Therefore, they performed each race clearly. Helen, David, and Joey were using similar techniques, but they chose a short monologue from each race they represented and connected each dialogue to a scene. I think it is the best way to represent the anger and violence.  For a same event, Helen represented Jew and Joey represented the black.  Even though they saw the event differently, the they all showed their misunderstanding to each other and anger. 

       Our theme, police, is more related to a daily figure.  However, I felt like it is hard to act out, because there is no direct interview from the police.  The figure of police is depicted in black and jew's words.  Aaron found an interesting scene that the boy sent the other blacks out of the dangerous place and got accidents.  Based on this scene, we wanted to show directly the identity of polices and the relationship between policies and the black.  Aaron was the black boy, Yun was Richard Green, and I was the white cop.  My goal is to show the discrimination and rude of the white cop, but it is hard to perform a silence show.  My biggest problem was that I would say something, but the words should all come from the book.  Unfortunately, all policies lived in other's descriptions, so I had to pick discriminate lines everywhere in the book and from different people.  Then, I found "heil hitler" saying from the black.  It is a memory showed that the black were really angry to Jews.  It is really ironic that what I spoke to the black boy in the performance were all originally from the black people.

       It is not correct to be racist, but as a white cop, I think there isn't no reason for them to hate the blacks.  They fought, they argued, and they got troubles to police.  At this moment, the white police not only disdain black but also are afraid of them.  Therefore, I borrowed the black's words, borrowed the black's anger and released them back to another black person.  That is how relationship works between police and the black. 

In-class Inflection

        Verbatim Theater is the theater that director interview different people about one topic, use the interviews as scripts and transfer them to the stage according to the conversation and environment of the interview.  I think the reason people like the verbatim theater is that it shows the variety of people's mind, and depict the interviewees as real as possible.  It is the news cannot do, because the news will paragraph the interview and it more likely to rearrange or pick the words differently than the interviewees' original words.  Secondly, news cannot show the background of interviews.  Therefore, verbatim theater not only provides the real story but also depict the environment of the interview.  It visually gives people a stronger sense of the theme.

        Verbatim Theater for me is the theater more close to daily life.  The exercise asked us to tell the boarding life in the campus, which it is too common to notice.  Helen, Joey, David and I were in one group, discussed the topic of roommates.  We introduced our roommates, told a story about them or between them and us.  It was a really interesting topic, but I think it was a little bit difficult for me to act.  I was going to retell Helen's and David's stories, repeating their words, learning their speaking habits, and imitating their gestures.  I thought it is another usual acting like I did, such as Romeo and Juliet and Fences, before until I made my observation of two people.  We were like ordinary people, who do not have really extreme personality or extraordinary experiences, so it is difficult for me to depict them.  Especially, on the performance day, they were sitting there watching me play, so it was more pressure for me.  In addition, we all know each other, so it was so easy to tell whether I acted really like Helen and David or not.  In the stage of verbatim theater, there is only one correct answer for actors.  It is absolutely a challenge for me, but I really enjoy it and was happy to play it.  

Theater in my mind

In my opinion, theater is another form of literature.  It is more visual.  The setting is set in front of people, actors standing on the stage with light on.  There might be music, but whatever element is added to the stage, they can never take place of the story that is told.  It is great for audience to define the literature with more clear figure, but it is also disadvantaged for audience to define a literature.  Some theater is created from nowhere, but for some theaters, which are adaptations of literatures, they limit audience's imagination to the story.  I think the reason of people like theater is the same reason of people like reading books: people want to know the other people's lives from different country, different social level, different time period, or different world, so that they can broad their views.  The biggest difference between watching theaters and reading books is that theater is easier for people to understand.  It show everything in front of your eyes, so there is no need for people to imagine, such as the character's face or setting. 

I love participating in theater because I not only want to sit in the audience feeling the characters' feelings, but also want to process the feeling from the beginning to the end from characters' perspectives.  I can be them; I am them;  I can experience different lives on the stage, have different attitude of lives and have opposite personalities from real me.  Therefore, it is really important for me to throw myself away.  I should read script and look into the story before I play the role.  Then, after analyzing the role I play, I should think and act in his/her/its way.  Being like the character is my goal.  However, it is still a challenge for me to reach the goal because of the accent and gestures.  The fun part of acting is also taking this challenge.