Ready Reference Treatise: Breath, Eyes, Memory

“Breath, Eyes, Memory” was the first novel by Edwidge Danticat. At the time of the publication of this novel, she was only twenty five years old.

After the publication of the book, she mentioned during various interviews that she had actually started writing it as an essay of her childhood in Haiti and as a young girl her move to New York City.

There is first person narrative in the novel, and Sophie Caco, the narrator relates her own direct experiences and impressions from the time when she was around twelve years old to her twenties.

The novel basically deals very descriptively with the questions of racial, linguistic, and gender identity. They have been discussed in interconnected ways.