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English B Assignment

Sophie and Martine are twins in Haitian mythology who share a close bond and similar traumatic past experiences, including being violently raped and subjected to an uncomfortable virginity test by their mother. Both women developed mental health issues like PTSD and physical ailments afterwards. While their partners Joseph and Marc are supportive, Sophie and Martine struggle in their relationship with each other due to their shared trauma in the past.

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Roshae Sinclair
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55 views3 pages

English B Assignment

Sophie and Martine are twins in Haitian mythology who share a close bond and similar traumatic past experiences, including being violently raped and subjected to an uncomfortable virginity test by their mother. Both women developed mental health issues like PTSD and physical ailments afterwards. While their partners Joseph and Marc are supportive, Sophie and Martine struggle in their relationship with each other due to their shared trauma in the past.

Uploaded by

Roshae Sinclair
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sophie and Martine are easily interpreted as the Marassas.

Marassas is known as a mythology in Haitian cultures. The Marassas are


two inseparable twins that share similar characteristics and past incidents. The
Marassas are two inseparable lovers and the reason why Martine told the story
was to explain that men will put a wedge between her mother and daughter
relationship. Sophie believes that Martine’s twin, a piece of her body, the saviour
who wakes her from her nightmares. Sophie and Martine are known as Marassas
as they experience past events when they were younger. One of these incidents is
violently losing their virginity. When Martine was younger, she was dragged into
the fields and raped by an unidentified man who was known to be a part of the
Macoutes, a group of men who did whatever they pleased. On the other hand,
Sophie lost her virginity by using a pestle because she wanted to stop her mother
from testing her. It was an old Haitian tradition for mothers to test their daughter
as a way of making sure that their daughter was pure. Martine was tested by her
mother and she did the same to Sophie.

The testing for Sophie began when Sophie has reached a mature age.
Martine was protective of her to the point that she tested Sophie when she came
home one night after her meeting with Joseph, her neighbour and admirer.
Sophie found the testing uncomfortable and was unsettled by the fact that her
mother thought of it has a way bonding. Sophie eventually asked Martine why she
did the testing and her response was, “I did it because my mother had done it to
me. I have no greater excuse. I realize standing here that the two greatest pains
of my life are very much related. The one good thing about me being rape was
that it made the testing stop.” The testing and the rape led Martine and Sophie to
suffer from mental trauma and physical trauma and physical illness. Martine,
after the rape, began to experience nightmares reliving the rape and experiences
suicidal thoughts. Tante Atie and Grandma Ife thought it was best to send Martine
to a family and away from young Sophie. Both Sophie and Martine have tried to
flee from the pace of hurt, Martine to New York and Sophie to Providence.
Further, both Sophie and Martine are implicated by each other’s pain: Sophie is
Martine’s child of rape, with her father’s face, and Martine is responsible for her
testing. Martine also experiences physical illnesses such as breast cancer causing
her to do a breast removal surgery. Sophie also experiences Sophie also
diagnosed with bulimia nervosa. This is a serious eating disorder characterized by
frequent episodes of binge eating followed by extreme efforts to avoid gaining
weight, often by vomiting.

Both Marc and Joseph are supportive and loving towards Martine and Sophie
respectively, but because of the trauma these women faced, they have a troubled
relationship with one another. Sophie unable to forget her testing relives the pain
every time she sleeps with her husband.

1) both were tested by mothers and found it discomforting


2) both had their virginity violently removed
3) both suffered mental trauma and physical illness
4) both had difficult romantic relation with men

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