Breath, Eyes, Memory: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

During Sophie’s last week in Croix-des-Rosets, she goes to school each day and cleans the yard each afternoon while Tante Atie works almost nonstop, leaving before dawn and coming home late at night after Sophie is already in bed. That Friday afternoon, though, when Sophie comes home from school, the thoughts of leaving she has been suppressing all week rise to the surface when she sees a large, brand-new suitcase sitting in the middle of the living room. Tante Atie explains that she has been working extra-hard all week to be able to afford the suitcase and some other gifts for Sophie to take to New York.

Tante Atie begins preparing a special tea, pouring milk from a silver kettle that usually sits displayed high on a shelf. As Tante Atie pours, Sophie sees a note stuck to the bottom of the kettle—it reads “Je t’aime de tout mon coeur,” or “I love you with all my heart,” and it is signed by Monsieur Augustin. As Sophie and Tante Atie drink their tea, they both begin crying. Tante Atie urges Sophie to be strong, and gives her one of her presents: a saffron-colored dress embroidered with tiny daffodils. That night, Sophie has horrible nightmares of Martine, with daffodils in her hair, trying to wrestle Sophie to the floor.

In the morning, Tante Atie helps Sophie get ready for the airport and don her new daffodil dress. As the two sit down to breakfast, Sophie sees that it is drizzling outside. She asks if she has to leave even if it’s raining, but Tante Atie says that nothing can stop Sophie’s journey now. Tante Atie pulls the now-very-wrinkled Mother’s Day card from her pocket and gives it back to Sophie one more time, insisting with finality that Martine will love it. Sophie tells Tante Atie what the poem written inside says: “My mother is a daffodil, limber and strong as one. My mother is a daffodil, but in the wind, iron strong.” Tante Atie says that the poem is beautiful—but not meant for her.

Chabin, the lottery man, pokes his head in the open front door and tells Tante Atie that she has won 10 gourdes, or Haitian dollars, in the lottery. Tante Atie clutches her new bills and claims that Martine brings her luck. As the rain lets up, the van taking Sophie and Tante Atie to the airport arrives. They head out to meet it in spite of not having touched their breakfasts. Inside the cab, the driver compliments Tante Atie’s clean yard. “My child,” she replies, “she cleans it.”