Breath, Eyes, Memory: Chapter 26 Summary & Analysis

The next morning, Martine and Granmè Ifé go to the notary. Tante Atie is not home, and so Sophie asks Eliab to go to the market and buy her some milk. He asks if “the new lady […] belong[s] to [Sophie],” and Sophie answers that sometimes she claims her mother—but sometimes she does not.

Martine and Granmè Ifé return to the house, and Granmè Ifé excitedly says that her land has been divided equally among the four of them. Granmè Ifé asks where Tante Atie is, hoping to share the good news with her, but when Sophie says Tante Atie is out, Granmè Ifé laments that “the gods will punish [her]” for her daughter’s ways. That night, Tante Atie returns, and they all eat dinner together, but Tante Atie leaves the table early to go to her room. Granmè Ifé suggests Martine take Tante Atie back to New York, where she might be happier, but Martine replies that Tante Atie wants to stay with her mother. Granmè Ifé says, again, that Tante Atie is only staying with her out of duty.

That night, after Sophie goes to bed, Granmè Ifé and Martine stay out in the yard and discuss death. Sophie’s grandmother believes she will know when her time is about to come, and though she feels fine now, she’s eager to begin making funeral preparations. She suggests Martine, too, start thinking about what her wishes are for her own funeral—Sophie, she assures her daughter, will come around and do whatever Martine wants. Late that night, Sophie hears her mother come into her bedroom. Sophie pretends to be asleep, but clenches her legs together. She listens as Martine stands over Brigitte and weeps.

In the morning, Martine comes into Sophie’s room to say hello to her and Brigitte. Sophie asks if her mother still has trouble sleeping, and Martine says she does, adding that the nightmares are even worse in Haiti. Sophie feels a rush of sympathy for her mother, and admits to her that she always felt guilty for Martine’s nightmares because she believed her own face—a reminder of the rape—brought them on. Martine, too, admits that at first, Sophie’s face did trigger her. But now that Sophie is a woman, her face has changed.

Sophie asks Martine, flat out, why she put her through the virginity testing. Martine says that if she answers, Sophie must promise to never ask her again. Sophie agrees. Martine explains that she has “no greater excuse” than the fact that her mother did it to her. Martine admits that “the two greatest pains of [her] life” are related, and says that the only good thing about being raped was that it made the testing stop. She says, in closing, that she still lives both things every single day. After that, Martine and Granmè Ifé head out into town, returning later with a pan of bloody pig meat.

Tante Atie has a “glazed look” that night as she eats the fried pork—she has had to accept the fact that Louise is gone, disappeared “into thin air.” In the end, Granmè Ifé bought Louise’s large pig to send her away to the U.S., and Louise left without even bidding Tante Atie farewell.