Krik? Krak!

Intrigued by the title of this story, I looked up the meaning after reading it. According to the publisher of this novel, it means "When Haitians tell a story, they say 'Krik?' and the eager listeners answer 'Krak!'". After learning this, I now have the setting in my mind and can reread the text with a better understanding of the culture.

The content of the story is very interesting. "I cringe from the heat of the night on my face." This first sentence sets up the mood and the woman's attitude towards the night. She "cringes", indicating that she dislikes it. This is reaffirmed a few sentences later as she thinks, "The night is the time I dread most in my life." This puts an emphasis on her feelings of the night. The rest of short story shows why she feels this way.

The woman is a prostitute who shares a "one-room house" with her young child. Of course she feels shame in what she does and only wishes to support her son and help him to grow into a fine young man. The language and imagery used makes the story unique and compelling. Although he has the innocent traits of an average young man, he is viewed from a prostitute's point of view- even though she is his mother, even his smallest movements are made sexual. This can be seen in the following passages: "In the morning, he will have tiny blood spots on his forehead, as though he had spent the whole night kissing a woman", "In his sleep he squirms and groans as though he's already discovered that there is pleasure in touching himself", "my lips stroking his cheek", "we are like faraway lovers", "sometimes his tongue slips out of his mouth and he licks my fingernail. He moans and turns away...", "I blow on his long eyelashes", "He licks his lips". I think you get the jist. There is some serious Oedipus Rex stuff going on here. 

I think one of the themes of the story is touch and comfort. The touch between mother and son, and the touch between the lady of the night with men. The touch between mother and son isn't meant to be sexual, but a relationship builder between the two, since they only have each other. She comforts the boy with her hands and lips as he dreams while telling him stories of stars and angels. This takes him away from the real world, away from the world where his mother is doing her work on the other side of the room.