Deepak Chopra once made a statement, “When you struggle with your partner, you are struggling with yourself. Every fault you see in them touches a denied weakness in yourself.” (Deepak Chopra). In Breath, Eyes, Memory, Martine and Sophie both had many struggles that were caused or involved with one another. Breath, Eyes, Memory, by Edwidge Danticat, was an intriguing story about an impoverished, close knit family that experiences many challenges through another due to their many differences. Throughout Breath, Eyes, Memory, Danticat used hyperbole, imagery, and symbolism to develop that struggles within a person can impact others around them.
Moreover, Danticat used hyperbole to develop the struggle of Martine. While Sophie visits her mother, Martine explained why she cannot have the baby: “He calls me a filthy whore. I never want to see this child’s face” (Danticat 221). Danticat said “he calls me a filthy whore” causing it to be a hyperbole. Hyperbole classified the preceding quote because Martine was exaggerating that the baby was …show more content…
After Martine committed suicide, Sophie had to pick an outfit for her burial out of her room: “In her closet, everything was in some shade of red, her favorite color since she’d left Haiti” (Danticat 231). The color red symbolized Martine’s pain since she left Haiti. After Martine got raped, she could not deal with herself. The color red also symbolized Martine’s new beginning because her entire house was that color after she left Haiti. As Martine talked to Sophie, Martine explained the importance of her roots: “Food, it was so rare when we were growing up we could not waste it” (Danticat 181). This symbolized who Martine was and how it compared to Sophie growing up. It represented her lifestyle on how she needed to appreciate everything and not take it for granted. Danticat used symbolism to develop how Martine’s struggles were different from Sophie’s