The Search for Self-Identity in Caribbean Literature

"Ou libère? Are you free?" (Danticat 233). The answer to this universal question is dependent upon a person's background and lifestyle. Different cultures and races define freedom in many ways. Some may relate to spiritual freedom, where others consider freedom as the freedom of speech. For example, a person from the United States may take freedom of speech for granted, whereas many people in other countries do not have this right. The rights and laws for many countries were established by the country that first colonized that area, forcing the natives to conform to the new government. Often, the territory, such as the islands in the West Indies, would change hands many times, which means the government would change also. This constant change of authority brought about bad sentiments between the people of the country being colonized and Europe. The European colonization of the islands Antigua and Haiti played a major role in developing the themes of alienation, exile, and identity formation that are seen in the novels Annie John, by Jamaica Kincaid, and Breath, Eyes, Memory, by Edwidge Danticat.