Originating from heart-distressing betrayals and the merging of memories lost within anguished sorrows, the book Everything Inside: Stories by Edwidge Danticat leads a powerful excursion guided by the heart stringing tug of emotional sensitivity. Eight separate stories, each representing the voice of a Haitian’s woes, is disclosed to readers by the expression of sentimental torment experienced by many Haitian immigrants. Each journey, pursued in the attempt to find happiness and a sense of belonging, results in a terrible beauty that will shake the perception of closed and comfortable minds.
Dismal challenges reveal genuinely disheartening truths in each story. The yearning for acceptance and a new life filled with love, promise, and hope is devastatingly romanticized in “Dosas,” in which Elsie “was surprised that a kind of grief she hadn’t lingered on was now actually lifting; that a distant ache in her heart was turning to relief” (Danticat 31). Hopeful desires have never been so strong for Elsie. The heavy ache in her heart, triggered by her intense loneliness, cut deeper when she realized she only had one friend in the United States (Danticat 32). The helplessness that comes with a recurring feeling of loss and defeat can lead a person to a deeper pit of despair, and in Elsie’s case, the choice of how to move forward solely depends on her determination to find happiness.
The shattering sense of isolation and loss of ambition is also displayed in “The Gift,” in which Anika noticed that Thomas “never said their names to her, neither the wife’s nor the daughter’s. It was as though he wanted them to remain fuzzy, abstract, vague” (Danticat 86). Thomas’s reluctance to accept the harrowing recollection of his family’s loss only emphasizes the detachment he displays with Anika. His lover could only imagine what pain he must have endured from the earthquake since she could only picture “his wife and daughter at first screaming for help, then losing blood, strength, hope, then breath” (Danticat 94). Perseverance represents the memory of Thomas’ family. Their persistence with survival Anika believes raised them as “birds with human faces and legs” (Danticat 104). In their memory, she yearns for their wings to uplift the pieces of her heart.
The misery and hopelessness as demonstrated by the characters will only graze the surface of the Haitian immigrant experience. In the sorrows expressed by these heart-wrenching stories, Danticat’s readers will feel a powerful sting in their hearts as they traverse through the collection. The troubled reflection of the lives lived by many Haitian immigrants will blare its mournful tale to all who will listen, proving that Everything Inside: Stories truly is a remarkable collection that can agitate a mind only familiar with comfort.
