Create Dangerously: Textual Analysis Edwidge Danticat in Create Dangerously demonstrates an artist’s aptitude to work syncretically to assemble unrelated stories and ideologies for personal use

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Create Dangerously: Textual Analysis Edwidge Danticat in Create Dangerously demonstrates an artist’s aptitude to work syncretically to assemble unrelated stories and ideologies for personal use. The scene in which the author describes the plight of presumed criminals as they get publicly executed in the presence of multitudes of people provides a represention of human oppression. The author begins by describing the execution of two Haitian men, Marcel Numa and Louis Drouin in 1964. The duo had left the United States to participate in a guerrilla war to overthrow a dictatorial government led by president “Papa Doc" Duvalier and bring freedom to the people. Dante Carter wrote this to show that not all government prioritize their citizens, and many governments will turn to attack them to satisfy the evil nature of the people who lead them. Duma and Louis were executed in the watch of the public. President Duvalier issued an order: "close government offices and schools and allow people to participate in implementation activities." ?Danticat?1?. Danticat uses language creatively to attract and retain the attention of the reader. She enables the reader to feel part of the event by drawing a clear picture of the process. For instance, the description of the physical appearance of the two victims enables the reader to see the differences in their body physique and skin color (1). The author describes the summoning of different public institution heads and essential service providers to witness the public execution. When the author mentions that all the people, ranging from government workers, teachers, and school children, to radio and print journalists and the entire community was summoned to watch the execution, the reader can clearly see and fathom what it looked like to have a huge crowd surrounding the public cemetery where the poles for execution had been erected. Danticat also uses imagery to bring out the concept of suffering as she describes squarely what the victims of execution had to endure when tired on the poles. For instance, the author writes, “Drouin looks as though he is fighting back the tears as he stands there, strapped to the pole, slightly slanted. Drouin's arms are shorter than Numa's, and the rope appears looser on Drouin” 3). The reader can figure out the way Drouin and Numa suffered by being tired on a pole with a loose rope and expected to support themselves until the time of their execution. Their suffering on the pole suggests that of the Biblical Jesus on the cross. The climax of their suffering is the public execution that is accomplished by the Haitian firing squad and orchestrated by a definite power from above. The genesis of Drouin and Numa's execution is their attempt to fight the dictatorial government that outrightly oppressed its citizens. Cudd (2) understands political oppression as an act of enacting strict restrictions on an individual, group or institution, to limit their ability to compete effectively with other social groups or with the government. Drouin and Numa left New York City to fight an oppressive government in Haiti. They established a group of thirteen young men, the majority of whom died in the guerrilla war. The members of Duvalier’s army captured Numa while he went on shopping in an open-air market. Drouin was injured and left in the woods. The group members would rather commit suicide than being captured by Duvalier’s army (Danticat 2). Hundreds of their family members were imprisoned and others murdered, although they were not participants in the battle. The execution of Drouin and Numa is central to the essay’s thematic concerns. Danticat reflects on the power of writing and reading during a period when a dictatorial president headed Haiti. She exposes the plight of artists during the reign of President Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier and widens her scope by considering the role of art in understanding human experiences and survival. She uses the execution scene to help readers to understand the unspoken. She reveals the dangers associated with writing about the unspeakable and is pushed by her desire to confront, know, and to create, despite the imminent dangers. According to Karnik and Ahmad (2), literature plays a critical role in informing, educating, and shaping individuals’ opinions about their surrounding environment. The author is well informed about the potential risks of her literary workers. However, she dares to expose the assassination, execution, oppression, and suffering of Haitians under dictatorial leadership. Therefore, the public execution of Drouin and Numa sets the path for the reader to understand the many forms of oppression that the Haitian people were undergoing at the time. The text is primarily conflict-centered, with individuals fighting to liberate themselves from the claws of dictatorial leadership. Drouin and Numa engage in physical wars to free their families from oppression and suffering. When the chapter ends, the conflict is still rife because people continue to die and be buried under rubbles and in mass graves (Danticat 18). A louder conflict is with artists who continue to write and read silently while avoiding risking torture, beatings, and execution. Artists are not free to write, and they fear being subjected to perpetual silence. Immigrant writers consider their work a dangerous adventure that can lead to execution and even death. However, this conflict is not yet over as writers continue to write and readers continue to read quietly. Create Dangerously is a relentless force aimed at bringing political change despite the challenges involved. This paper sought to analyze a scene from a text by Danticat to understand the plight of artists and human oppression as depicted by the author. The literary work is set in Haiti during a period of political turmoil and severe oppression. Freedom fighters are assassinated, beaten, and executed publicly to propagate fear and dictatorship. Under such political turmoil, it could be impossible to write without touching on the aspect of human suffering. Danticat uses the example of Drouin and Numa, victims of daylight execution, to present the danger with which artists undertake their literary work. Although art can serve a fundamental role in human liberation, Danticat and her colleagues have to do it secretly to avoid risking their lives and the lives of their families. There are a number of brilliant moments in this essay that demonstrate your solid grip on Danticat’s essay. However, there are a few sentences that you did not write—and which you did not put in quotes or attribute to their original author. There is also research that you brought in from outside sources, and the assignment did not include research. Instead, you were asked to provide your own original analysis of a scene or passage from one of our class texts. As such, rather than giving you a poor grade when I believe you have a good grasp of this text, I will give you no grade for now, and ask you to revise this essay in two ways. In addition to any changes you may want to make in response to my margin comments above, please do the following: 1) Remove all extraneous research from your essay, including the material you found in the two essays listed below, and 2) Remove all language that you yourself did not write. Once that’s done, please resubmit your essay to me for a new grade. I will return it to you with my commentary in advance of the portfolio’s final due date so that you will have one additional opportunity to revise before the end of the semester. Best, Josh Works Cited Cudd, Ann E. "How to explain oppression: Criteria of adequacy for normative explanatory theories." Philosophy of the Social Sciences 35.1 (2005): 20-49. Danticat, Edwidge. Create dangerously: The immigrant artist at work. Vintage, 2011. Karnik, Baharti Sheikh, and Showkat Ahmad. "The Role of English Literature in ReConstruction Society." changes 7 (2015).