First Reaction for the Story, "Ghosts"
Choose one of the topics below and write a response in paragraphs (not an essay). Write a minimum of 150 words and a maximum of 200 words. Include at least one direct reference to the story through the use of a short quotation but do not quote more than 20 words total in your answer. Link to "Ghosts" full text at NewYorker.com
1.Write about something that surprised you, angered you, delighted you, or evoked any strong reaction as you were reading. Write about anything that stays on your mind after reading.
2. Explore a social or ethical issue raised in the writing. Judge the behaviour of the characters or the views of the author. Are they right or wrong in your opinion?
3. Does this work confront or confirm your personal beliefs? Explain.
23 comments:
I am delighted by the richly sensual description in Edwidge Danticat’s story, “Ghosts.” Those “few Protestant and Catholic churches, vodou temples, restaurants, bakeries, and dry cleaners, even Internet cafés” paints us a picture of Bel Air, “the Baghdad of Haiti.” Who could forget Tiye’s “shiny metal hooks”? Danticat helped me to see the world of Bel Air. I imagined the pain of having your hands handcuffed behind you, of someone blowing smoke into your eyes, of vomiting onto the front of your shirt.
The gang members angered me, but also evoked my sympathy. They were, after all, true orphans. Victims of the extreme violence of the paramilitary, of gangs, they grew up with only each other as family. That Pascal will enter this world makes his dream of a radio show bittersweet. He will become a “phantom” one day, too.
Most of all, I remember Danticat’s final definition of ghosts and the way her sentence ends: “because they were poor.”
—160 words
The two religious symbols used in the story “Ghosts” by Edwidge Danticat are pigeons and ghosts. After a little research, I found their symbolic meanings are very powerful to present the theme of this story. From scientific definition, pigeons are domestic doves, and doves are wild birds; they are often closely related to each other. From Bible, doves signify sacrifice, while from many cultures, doves represent peace. These all work perfectly in this story. For example, pigeons symbolize peaceful life of Pascal’s family before the civil strife in Haiti. Then these beautiful birds become victims of the cruel ritual of young Haitians who live in slums. When Pascal is tortured by the special force of government, his destiny is like the dead pigeons “gyrating on the ground.” The other symbol in the story is ghosts. Based on Bible, ghosts are spirit beings who can haunt human bodies. Symbolically, Pascal thinks the “people who had lost family” and the gang member who lost his limb are all ghosts because they share one destiny: their lives are all ruined by poverty and corruptive autocracy. Those ghosts also signify the most valuable spirit—love and mercy—are lost in most Haitians’ minds.
--199 words
In the short story “Ghost” I am angered by the businessmen and politicians who gave the gangs group guns “to shoot when a crisis was needed.” Without their guns, I don’t think that the gangs would be able to buy guns or even had an idea about shooting people because they were “poor.”
The gangs groups, however, they were dangerous and if there was anybody who wanted to go after them they “have got to kick his ass.” What I am surprised about them though is that, the people who used them, they used them “for free” which is seemed non-sense to me. Or it’s because they used to take “the white man’s powder” Cocaine, that’s why they didn’t realize what they were doing, I don’t really know.
But, I’m delighted by Jules who used to live in Montreal. He took an action immediately after his relative Pascal was in trouble: He “called the lawyer, he phoned many of his police friends and his former bosses.” Just to protect his brother.
--172 words
After reading the story, I savor the uncivilized Haitian society, and the coherence of family when under pressure. The Haitian is uncivilized that policemen can freely catch any suspect with no evidence or just because someone tries to frame up, such as the “notorious head of Baz Benin” Tiye “[has] named Pascal “as the mastermind of the operation”. Later the police charges Pascal more crimes and treats him as “a scapegoat for a whole tally of unsolved crimes.” Finally, when the police found that they make a mistake, they dump Pascal in front of his parent’s restaurant without apologizing. In this falsely accuse, his whole families also suffer. His parents are anxious to raise money to pay for the bloodsucker lawyer. His older brother Jules, even lives in Canada, also tries to apply his network to contact the authority and the policemen to rescue him. The family are tied together to provide unconditional love to free Pascal. Under such an uncivilized society, to save themselves emphasizes the value of the family.
Danticat’s “GHOSTS” story has given a very clear picture of Bel Air, a city which is destitute, brutal, and it’s filled with phantoms. However, who or what have made this city to be a hell? Danticat concluded to “because they were poor”.
I am wondering if the fact is as simple as the word “poor”. Look at some facts she told in the story; after the dictatorship collapsed, the ghosts were joined by deportees from the US and Canada and by some older ambitious businessmen and politicians. “The white man’s powder” was imported to the city, causing the ghosts from being drug sellers to drug users, and therefore, their souls were being controlled, transforming to the real phantoms. The ghosts were used as the politicians’ weapons. These facts have made my heart broken, and I recognized that this is the Bel Air’s destiny. Reality is brutal!!!!!!
Mostly that impressed me is the writer’s description of the religious ritual, slitting the pigeon’s throat and using its blood to make a beverage called Malta. It was too cruel and savage. The way the ghosts applied the Malta is as if they were announcing “peace was dead in Bel Air”.
197 words
The “Ghosts” story manifests the harsh environment that happens in Bel Air. Politicians, businessmen and other high profile people hold the power over them. They have dark motives. As Danticat mentioned in the story, the “chimeras or ghosts” are controlled by these avaricious people just to “swell the ranks of political demonstrations”. They use their authority to make other people do the evil things, so the blame would be in those poor people who were blinded by their offers.
I am agitated when Pascal suffered from tortures, and when his parents and brother, Jules, did everything to save him, but all were wasted only because of the unjust practice. When I’ve learned that Tiye and his gang discharged Pascal because they were connected to the high officials, it enraged me. But as Danticat reasoned out why they were doing those such things, “because they were out of choices”, caused me to pity them. Tiye and his gang have no choice but to stick with the fraudulent people because that’s what they’ve known and that’s how they could keep on living.
- 181 words
The story “Ghosts” is full of the bloody scenario like the pigeon’s headless body “gyrating on the ground.” I was angry with the gangs, and sympathy the blameless inhabitant.
The destitute country Haiti was controlled by a dictatorship leader, and most of the poor people uneducated. The students learned more violence than the knowledge so as to draw “M-16 and beheaded corpses” in a national art contest. In the slum, Bel Air—the Baghdad of Haiti, the gang wars could happened anywhere and anytime because the retaliation was never stopped. The blameless inhabitant suffered from the gang wars or no reasons like Pascal Dorien if the gang members felt unhappy with somebody else.
Also, the natural environment is horrible too. There is no “green” in that country. The “tree vanished” and the “mountain gave way,” “washing the country’s topsoil into the sea.” This action like the chain reaction as well as the country: the awful government, the terrible education system, then leading to the poor people.
Hopefully, Pascal had his dreams to awaken his people to know who the real ghosts were.
He wanted his people to drive away the desolate, violent, and merciless even though his power was weak.
--words 200
The fictional story "Ghost" portrays the social fabric of Haiti. A poverty stricken country, run by corrupt government officials, lawlessness is the law; ethics is not decency.
Gaining political power should be supported by society. Not in Haiti. Politicians ascend to power by employing goons and guns. They exploit the vulnerability of "orphaned" street children; arm them;use them; to advance their political interests. They divide and rule the helpless population. The blatant disregard of ethics is not only true to politics, it trickles down to the state institutions like: the juducial system- freedom for sale, the police- gangster like, and the media- robbing intlelectual property.
Pascal and Tiye have common interest to conscientisize their community. Pascal wants to achieve this through peace. He believes that exposing the realities in their community would facilitate change. "...they'd be encouraged to figure out ways to alleviate the problems," he thought. On the other hand, Tiye uses violence to imbue awareness. He vindicated the injustice done to Pascal and maneouvered Pascal's arrest and release. As Tiye had told him, "you wanted to know what it's like for us, I just thought I'd give you a taste."
In a society where lawlessness rules, the acts in pursuing change and justice can not be negated to be right or wrong. Circumstances for survival sometimes justify the means.
(220 words)
The story Ghosts is written by Edwidge Danticate and it is a painful story. In this story the way people treat others made me angry. I am still feeling that pain when a man was slapped by Tiye and how he was laughing at his pain. Also, there was no difference between police and villains. Actually they switched places. For example Pascal was treated by police the same way as the man was treated by Tiye. The most upsetting part of the story was when a beautiful bird was suffering without a head and young boys were drinking his blood with condensed milk. It made my stomach sick. Although most of the story made me angry, I really liked Jules’ character because he shows concern for his family. When he found his brother in trouble, he arranged everything immediately so his brother was released by the police.
# 1. I feel sorry about some countries and political systems.Ghost is a story that translates the painful fact in a poor coutry, their people suffering from injustice and anarchy.The system of law is dictatorship and the politicians are like the one who plant the seditions between people.
Like everybody and everywhere we all need a peaceful society,where there is no place for shooting or kidnapping.I like the esspression of the pigeon wich is means the peace, the mercy, and the charity but why people don't use these symboles?. It's a big tragedy when we hear or see on t.v people decided to enforce human crimes such as the scandal of Guantanamo and many other places in the world.
Pascal,this poor guy.He was unable to do anything and many of the gang members had known about pascal's plan,he served them their beers, they teased him,saying,"Man they stole your idea."Again the rude situation,the more they laughed, the angrier he got(just because he's poor),also the condition of each one in the family:Pascal,the ater,and the mother,all of them suffered from the ghosts of being poor, where there is no choices, there are violence,power,and merciless.
After reading this remarkable story, "Ghosts", I could imagine looking through the Haitian people's eyes in the way they lived. Pascal's parents wanted the best for him and his brother; such as an education, "so that their children could finish primary school". What made me angry was when the news manager declined Pascal's idea and later aired it on the show.
The definition of a gang member is always negative but many have their own stories, "Boys whose parents had died or been murdered during the dictatorship." That is why there are so many of them, who all stick together and consider eachother as family. I am appalled at the actions, Tiye, took by shooting the Radio Zorey. He killed the guard maybe in his eyes he sees it as though he was defending Pascal since his idea was stolen.
Remember, Tiye says, "You wanted to know what it's like for us". He gave Pascal the reality; a memory of what happens in Bel Air, the Baghdad of Haiti.
-- 169
In my imagination, Haiti should have been a seaside country with many tourist attractions, like Maldives, but was unfortunately destroyed by the earthquake. To my surprise, it had already been “destitute and brutal” even before the disaster. Trees were used as charcoal. Gang wars, kidnappings, crises often occurred. Young men were used, and then abandoned by politicians, so many of them drifted from politics to the drug trade. Lots of pigeons, the symbol of peace, were killed ferociously to perform their rituals. Most people in Haiti have been “historically poor.”
All of these were not caused by the earthquake, but the dictatorship and the political corruption. They are the real “ghosts.” Pascal was the witness. He had been arrested without enough evidence and was released without an apology, while his family had to pay off a judge. Tiye, the head of a gang, was very likely possessing “highly incriminating drug-related dirt on everyone, from the lowest street cop to Supreme Court judges.”
Rebuilding Haiti might be a turning point for the poor people. In the long run, it needs reforms in both economic and political systems.
--186 words
Reading about Bel Air reminded me a dark, lawless, and harsh jungle, where powerful animals hunt weak animals cruelly .As we read in this heartbreaking story ,”Ambitious businessman and politicians” hunt children who missed their parents because of dictatorship society ,and no one did not support them. They need food and home, so they used them as a drug dealers and drug users instead of money. These powerful mans seem gentle, kind, and high class apparently, but who knows their ghostly insides?
This story made me angry, and sad specially about drinking pigeon’s blood, while they are laughing at headless birds “was still gyrating on the ground,” It obviously shows their cruelty. Are they really human or wild animal? When they behave brutally with beautiful lovely birds like pigeons, they certainly have no feelings about their people. Unfortunately, it is a fact about poor countries because “They were out of choice.” They do not know about the human rights because their dictatorship politicians prefer it to use them for their benefits.
The way Edwidge Danticat describes the vanishing trees and mudslides “washing the country’s topsoil into the sea” made me imagine the Haiti people’s hope of a good life flowing away with each disaster. What angered me was the thought of distributing weaponry to people in crisis, instead of offering non violent aid. “To his ear, there was no difference between their laughter, their taunting, and that of Tiye and his crew.” What I found unnerving about the story was the lack of difference in behavior between police authority and the viscous gang members. Danticat’s horrific description of Pascal’s interrogation and the behavior of the interrogators sent shivers down my spine. What is scary is the thought of a country that’s law system is based on lies; blaming someone for unsolved crimes, just because it’s an easy way out, or having to pay off a judge for a positive outcome in trial. A perfect example of Haiti’s police contributing to the chaos is when Danticat describes how Tiye, a gang member, uses drug related dirt against police to bribe authorities.
-179
I was finally relaxed when Pascal was released. I had nothing to say about Pascal's experience. However, it made me recall a proverb in China: It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period. All of these were caused by greed and power. "Ambitious businessmen and politicians used them to swell the ranks of political demonstrations." Men went to the gang, young men fought on the street.
I've known a little about Haiti that she is one of the poorest countries in the world. But I never heard about its chaotic situation. And now, Edwidge Danticat's story tells what Haiti is to us through the experience of an average person -- Pascal. It's a microcosm of Haiti -- There is no hope, no future, like Pascal wondered to his brother "Back to the countryside?" or "To the hills? To you?" Despair fills up everywhere.
My state of mind is very heavy after reading "Ghosts". Because, for Pascal, I'm not sure that release is a good beginning or a bad start.
— 178 words
I was shocked by the obscentities that the children of haiti have to endure on a day to day bases. My heart goes out to them. In Canada most children learn about being polite, knowing between right and wrong, and generally making the right decisons in life. In Haiti, and many other 3rd world counties the children have to grow up fast and learn to defend themselves in battle. It is sad to hear a young boy say "It's not polite to shoot at funeral processions".
What angered me even more then that, was the religious ceremony that the boys would do before they would "became a man". It is beyond cruel and it litterally almost made me sick to my stomack thinking of them torchering and massacring the innocent pigeons. It was the right decision for Pascals parents to let the last pair of pigeons free. By letting them go, it was almost as if they were freeing their souls of the evil around them. The evil being the greed and avarice from the guy that stole Pascals idea for the radio talk show. The corruptness of the police and their tactics of using Pascal as their scapeboat for crimes he did not commit. The spite and malice from Tiye when he was laughing so hard about the way he one slaped a man.
The reality is that peoples eyes are closed to disturbing living conditions of Bel Air. The "bagdad" of Haiti. To us they are all just phantoms and chimes. The lost and forgotten.
Edwige Danticat did an excellent job writing this article. He used a lot of detail which gave me a mental picture of the troubled life that Pascal had. I felt as though as I was in the story! There were a lot of things in this article that shocked me but the one that stood out to me the most was , “a special-forces team shot several bullets into the back of his head as he was lying in bed one night.” It shows that in Bel Air even the police don’t have any ethics. Killing a man in his sleep, criminal or not is just wrong.
The one thing that angered me most is the fact that the whole political system in Bel Air is corrupt. This line stood out to me most , “They should consider paying off a judge.” It is no wonder that the citizens in the city were either really poor or in a gang. It seems like the only way you can get somewhere there is to be in a gang. The so called good guys (the politicians and judges) are corrupt making it hard for anyone to make an honest living . It is no wonder that the city is a slum. Without a good government and police force, I doubt there will be any hope for the city.
The article shows how corruption can effect a city and their people.
After reading the remarkable short story “Ghosts” by Edwidge Danticat, I’ve learned what Haitian people go though in one of the most violent neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince. Pascal who lived with his parents, who were local restaurant owners and wanted the best for their kids. They worked hard for their two sons so they could finish “primary school”.
I was angry with the gangs but felt bad because these kids grew up lawless in a big city. The gang members, who were also called “ghosts”, for the most part, former street children who couldn’t remember ever having lived in a house, boys whose parents had died or been murdered during the dictatorship ,leaving them alone in a lawless and overpopulated poor city.
The part of the story that made me sick to my stomach was when the young boys wanted to perform a ritual: they’d slit the pigeon’s and let it bleed into a mixture of Carnation condensed milk and a carbonated malt beverage called Malta. The fathers would force them to drink it down. I was really happy that Pascal’s parents didn’t approve of.
Edwidge Danticat's short story, "Ghost," portrays life in the slums or what they call the "geto." What surprised me in this writing was how Tiye "had named Pascal as the mastermind of the operation" in order to educate him on what life is like for "chimes - chimeras, or ghosts." It was an interesting way to have Pascal experience the slum life first hand. On the other hand, it would of been horrible, if the outcome had not ended the way that it had.
What angered me the most was how the cops had acted during the interrogation. A justice system should be based upon how someone is innocent until proven guilty whereas in the story, the accused is guilty until proven his innocence. Authorities have the tendency to abuse their powers. When Pascal was accused of plotting the shooting at the radio station, the cops had pinned several other unsolved crimes on him.
What I believe is that with more power, there's more corruption.
After reading this story, I felt very upset. I can imagine what the people of Haiti face everyday. Gangsters, drug, poverty, and orphans combine together to create lawless society. Maybe, Pascal ‘s dream is a journalist in the future, and he should feel confident in his idea. But the environment is so worse, he probably become a member of gang. In addition to these, it was so brutal that policemen arrested general people of Haiti. In this story, they “knocked down the front gate” and “dragged him out of bed”. I was surprised that the defenders of justice were such an attitude toward citizens. At the same time, I felt angry that a innocent person (Pascal) had faced this situation, and disappointed that his relatives ignored his father to be tortured. After his father came out the jail, he drank with the head of gang, Tiye. Tiye said, “as long as I’m here, nothing will happen to us tonight”. I thought Tiye should bribe the police or Tiye was a king in this area.
After reading, the fiction story “Ghosts”, by “Edwidge Danticat”.The writer had confirmed my personal beliefs toward this part of society. Nothing is new for me; I expected everything I have read. The Gangs, the horrible environment, and the lack of ethics, all of those together are a part of our daily life news.
We hear, see, and talk about them almost every day.
The writer also had created a clear image of everything that happened there in “Bel Air”. For example, he gave us, “the readers”, a great, clear picture for the real life that Pascal and his parents are suffering from. “His mother’s stern face, darker than the bottom of the burned pot. It was as if the heat of the kitchen had melted and sealed it.” The image that the writer had pictured to us, is enough to tell the readers about the utmost feelings of sufferings and forlorn.
Words: 152
In the Edwidge Danticat’s story “Ghosts” I am irritated by the brutality of life which makes people cruel and merciless like those “former street children who couldn’t remember ever having lived in a house” and whom the writer showed as the “Ghosts”. Actually they are “ghosts”- they have no mercy, no sympathy, and no connections with humanity.
The writer shows how Pascal saw them differently which captivated me, “they were used, then abandoned” and also “they were out of choices, because they did not want to be driven away”. Nevertheless, can we really blame the “boys whose parents had died or been murdered” and they were left “alone in a lawless and overpopulated city” for being ruthless?
I’ll remember the part of the story where, “Pascal stopped at Tiye’s table and held out a hand to him.” It really shows the difference in their personalities.
145 words
I am surprised by the ruthless, brutal slum life in Bel Air, Haiti, described by Edwidge Danticat. In the story, local peasants lose their livelihood because “the trees vanished into charcoal,” “the mountains gave away” and “the topsoil washed into the sea.” Governing the destitute, there is the corrupted government which kills suspects without trails and employs well equipped gang members as their sidekick for “political demonstrations”. While most developed countries are gaining prosperity through advanced technologies, improved education and health care systems, Haiti is deteriorating to an “unrecognizable” state because their younger generation are losing themselves over “the white man’s powder” and gang wars.
Even though I have strong empathy for the bitter struggles of the poor and understand how they are out of options, I am angered by their lack of remorse for killing the harmless pigeons. I don’t know the background of their “holy” ritual, but the irony is the weak takes pleasure in hurting the weakest. Besides the innocent pigeons, young girls are demeaned as the fathers would laugh and say in the ritual, “I pity that girl.”
However, to my delight, Haiti’s society also has “psychologists, sociologists and urban planners”. Those highly educated professionals, as well as Pascal and Max those black sheep, who strive to bring some positive change to the society.
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