Death

Although most of the major deaths in the narrative occur towards the end of the book, the narrative is heavily characterized by a sense of anticipating death, and thus the book illustrates how the imminence of bereavement is an integral and inevitable challenge in the experience of life. The book opens towards the end of its overall narrative, specifically on the day that Edwidge learned that her father likely had a very limited time left to live. He was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, and his body was resisting treatment. In giving a prognosis, the doctor said that “most people who are resistant to treatment live anywhere from six months to two years” (10). The threat of Mira’s imminent death thereby hangs over the entire narrative, reflecting Edwidge’s own fixation on the horror of losing her father. Thematically, this structural choice serves to emphasize bereavement as a weighty...