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Frances Temple

Frances Temple, in the novel Taste of Salt, explores the oppression of two characters involved in the fight for justice in Haiti. As much as the story is about the struggle of Djo and Jeremie, it is also about the power of stories to change people and situations for the better. The novel may be about Haiti specifically, but it is a multicultural work in the sense that its power as an account of courage and faith cuts across all cultures, nations and nationalities. This study will focus on that courage and faith of the two heroes of the book insofar as their story and their strength offer hope to people of all cultures in their personal and political fight for justice and freedom.

Djo's story is told to Jeremie and her tape recorder at the behest of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who is trying to oust the military dictatorship of the country and bring justice and mercy to the poor people of Haiti. At the beginning of that story Djo remembers a lesson from his father in multiculturalism. Djo sees a peculiar painting of Jesus on the wall and asks his father, "Why do that man look so sick, like his eyes rolled back like he go into a fit?" His father answers:

"In the picture Jesus just going into a trance. It is because he is the Go-between, going between the true spirit and the human beings like we-all. Beyond him, behind the picture, be spirit. Beyond him be Damballah. . . . Spirit of life. . . . Damballah is god in Guinee Africa and here in Haiti, too (11).

The suggestions here, of course, are that there is one God behind the different religious interpretations of the many cultures, and that that God is spirit which transcends material differences among the cultures. For the story which follows, the emphasis on the spiritual is also important because it underscores the fact that there is something more than just a political struggle going on. The souls of the heroes are being strengthened by their struggle on the political ...

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Frances Temple. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:43, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1708118.html