Breath, Eyes, Memory

by

Edwidge Danticat

Dreams and Night Terrors Symbol Analysis

Dreams and Night Terrors Symbol Icon

Sophie and Martine’s night terrors represent the haunting, persistent nature of violent trauma. When Sophie arrives in New York to start a new life in America with her mother, Martine, she realizes on her first night in her mother’s Brooklyn apartment that Martine suffers from debilitating night terrors which leave her screaming, thrashing, kicking, and biting in her sleep. Martine comes to rely on Sophie to wake her from the dreams, calling Sophie a life-saver and thanking her for always sticking close by. Though Martine doesn’t tell Sophie why she’s plagued by such dreams at first, Sophie eventually learns that she was the product of rape, and that Martine vividly relives the violent assault at the hands of a Haitian paramilitary, or Tonton Macoute, every night of her life. Martine’s night terrors aren’t just hers once Sophie arrives—Sophie takes it upon herself to comfort her mother each night, and Sophie’s sleep, too, is affected by the nightmares; as she grows older, she admits to often having bad dreams herself. Both women’s dreams and night terrors, then, abstractly symbolize the novel’s theme of mothers, daughters, and generational trauma—and, more literally, they represent the lingering physical and psychological effects of violence, especially violence of a sexual nature. Martine’s night terrors eventually grow so bad that they are, Danticat suggests, a large part of the reason why she takes her own life. Sophie worries that her infant daughter, Brigitte, will inherit her and her mother’s insomnia, but is relieved that Brigitte is, for the most part, a good sleeper. Danticat further symbolically ties peaceful sleep to mothers, daughters, and trauma when Joseph tells Sophie, after she leaves for Brooklyn and later Haiti to bury Martine, that Brigitte has become a cranky sleeper in her mother’s absence, suggesting that there is a link between peaceful sleep and an absence of trauma, violence, or pain inflicted on a child by its mother.

Dreams and Night Terrors Quotes in Breath, Eyes, Memory

The Breath, Eyes, Memory quotes below all refer to the symbol of Dreams and Night Terrors. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

Ou byen? Are you all right?” I asked her.

She shook her head yes.

“It is the night,” she said. “Sometimes, I see horrible visions in my sleep. […] Don’t worry, it will pass,” she said, avoiding my eye. “I will be fine. I always am. The nightmares, they come and go.”

Related Characters: Sophie Caco (speaker), Martine Caco (speaker)
Related Symbols: Dreams and Night Terrors
Page Number: 45-46
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29 Quotes

After Joseph and I got married, all through the first year I had suicidal thoughts. Some nights I woke up in a cold sweat wondering if my mother’s anxiety was somehow hereditary or if it was something that I had “caught” from living with her. Her nightmares had somehow become my own. […] I looked back at my daughter, who was sleeping peacefully. […] The fact that she could sleep meant that she had no nightmares, and maybe, would never become a frightened insomniac like my mother and me.

Related Characters: Sophie Caco (speaker), Martine Caco , Joseph, Brigitte
Related Symbols: Dreams and Night Terrors
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

“Your mother never gave him a face. That’s why he’s a shadow. That’s why he can control her. I’m not surprised she’s having nightmares. […] You and your mother should both go there again and see that you can walk away from it. Even if you can never face the man who is your father, there are things that you can say to the spot where it happened. I think you’ll be free once you have your confrontation. There will be no more ghosts.”

Related Characters: Rena (speaker), Sophie Caco, Martine Caco
Related Symbols: Dreams and Night Terrors
Page Number: 214-215
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Breath, Eyes, Memory LitChart as a printable PDF.
Breath, Eyes, Memory PDF

Dreams and Night Terrors Symbol Timeline in Breath, Eyes, Memory

The timeline below shows where the symbol Dreams and Night Terrors appears in Breath, Eyes, Memory. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Home Theme Icon
...That night in bed, though, Sophie resists falling asleep, afraid of having one of her nightmares about her mother stealing her away. (full context)
Chapter 4
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Home Theme Icon
...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. (full context)
Chapter 6
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Home Theme Icon
...thrashing alone on the sheets of the sofa bed, clearly in the middle of a night terror . Sophie shakes her mother awake, and Martine explains that sometimes she has “horrible visions”... (full context)
Chapter 8
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Home Theme Icon
...private nurse for a very sick old woman. Sophie feels terrible for her mother, whose night terror s, hard work, and obsession with skin-lightening cream have weathered her young face beyond her... (full context)
Chapter 10
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Home Theme Icon
...before her mother so that the letters remain secret. Nearly every night, Martine awakes with nightmares, and credits Sophie with saving her life when she wakes her up each night. (full context)
Chapter 26
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Virginity and Violence Theme Icon
Memory, Storytelling, and the Past Theme Icon
...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... (full context)
Chapter 29
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Virginity and Violence Theme Icon
Memory, Storytelling, and the Past Theme Icon
...and Martine admits that she has no idea. She is frightened, she says, and her nightmares are worse than ever. She worries that because she was not a very good mother... (full context)
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Virginity and Violence Theme Icon
Memory, Storytelling, and the Past Theme Icon
...Martine, however, is considering aborting the child—but every time she thinks about it seriously, her nightmares get worse and her stomach acts up. (full context)
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Virginity and Violence Theme Icon
Sophie asks Martine if Marc has helped ease the nightmares at all, and Martine basically admits that she has traded enduring painful sex in order... (full context)
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
...marry Marc, but Martine is afraid that Marc will one day grow sick of her nightmares and leave. Sophie continues pressing Martine to decide what to do, and Martine, frustrated, tells... (full context)
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
...Sophie hopes that Brigitte’s peaceful sleep means that she has not inherited Martine and Sophie’s nightmares. (full context)
Chapter 30
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Virginity and Violence Theme Icon
...she went to an abortion clinic, but the meeting with the doctor only made her night terror s intensify. Sophie promises to come visit over the weekend. (full context)
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Virginity and Violence Theme Icon
Memory, Storytelling, and the Past Theme Icon
...wander elsewhere. She imagines lying in bed with her mother, helping her fight off her nightmares. Sophie feels an odd gratitude that she and Martine can at last be friends—she is... (full context)
Chapter 35
Mothers, Daughters, and Generational Trauma  Theme Icon
Virginity and Violence Theme Icon
Home Theme Icon
Memory, Storytelling, and the Past Theme Icon
...the beloved faces that “recreate the same unspeakable acts that they themselves lived through.” Here, nightmares are passed down “like heirlooms,” and the past is something women carry through the ages.... (full context)