Normalizing the Stranger in Angie Cruz’
The Dominican Republic and Haiti are nations that split an island and in many respects function as separate entities. They share geographical location and information about each other but dissimilar historical backgrounds and political trends. Two recent works, Soledad (2001) by Angie Cruz and The Dew Breaker (2004) by Edwidge Danticat explore the lives of narrative personas living in the United States that turned their eyes to Hispaniola and everything related to the island to discover their identity.
The novels are not the teary pealing of the onion usually revealed in autobiographical narratives about adolescents, but rather they are robust and strong constructions about immigrants coming to terms with personal and national distinctiveness. The characters actively negotiate their circumstances to normalize the isolation of exile in a world where foreigners are not the norm but also not the exception. The characters unfold their stories in the United States. Their relationships endure despite or because of the distance and their access to knowledge—both personal and outside the family circle—all of which contributes to an astonishing insight into their personal journeys.
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