Edwidge Danticat

Looking back on this week's class discussion and short story, I think that one of the most interesting parts about this author and this short story is that Danticat never specifically states that Ray has the coronavirus.  I think it is so interesting how leaving this out can cause the reader to be able to interpret the story in two different ways.  It could either be interpreted as Ray having the coronavirus or Ray being a victim of systemic racism and police brutality.  This was something that I had not thought about until I read the articles about the author and her connection to the Black Lives Matter movement.  It is crazy how just getting background on an author could change our interpretations of the story.  I also thought it was interesting how the author used symbols of music in the short story.  I thought that the music references related to past memories, and the memories from this were comforting to Ray's and Marie's situation.  The ending was really dark, and the author used a dark abyss to show this at the end of the story.  

One place in the world that I would like to learn more about through literature would be South America.  At my high school, a lot of the readings were American literature or European literature, so I think that learning about South America would be an interesting change.  I do not know a lot about South America, so I think this would be really educational for me and would offer a new perspective.