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Chapter 15
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Farming of Bones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Power of Memory
Dreams vs. Reality
Language and Identity
Death, Grief, and Hope
Home, Family, and Belonging
Summary
Analysis
Amabelle comes across Don Ignacio in his household garden. He mentions that he heard that a man had died. She responds that she knows the man who was killed in the car accident; and that the man’s father was the only living relative. Don Ignacio asks if Amabelle will bring him to see the man, and she mentions his name, Kongo. Don Ignacio asks if this is the father’s real name, and Amabelle admits that only the man’s son knew his “true name.”
The revelation that only the dead man knew his father’s true name illustrates the complicated dynamic between death and memory. Death is able to destroy memory, even while memory preserves the legacy of the dead. For example, the father’s name is unremembered and unknown, as only his dead relative knew it. Nevertheless, the son’s life is preserved in his father’s memory.
Themes
Just then, the workers set fire to the cane in the fields, signaling the beginning of the harvest. Amabelle goes into the house to see if Señora Valencia needs help, and the two women hear Rosalinda crying. Señora Valencia worries that the cries will wake Rafael, but the two women realize there are “no signs of life” in the boy. Señora Valencia begins to shout that it is “too soon” for him to “leave.”
The sudden death of Rafael in this chapter is set against the backdrop of a harvest, a symbol of death and a season’s end. These two deaths—physical and metaphorical—reinforce how omnipresent and powerful death can be. Rafael’s passing is unexpected and abrupt, and it shows that even the most privileged families are unable to avoid death when it is fated to occur.
Themes
Doctor Javier arrives, but it is clear that the boy has died. Señora Valencia is grief-stricken, and begins to cry in her husband’s arms. Señor Pico also looks as if he “want[s] to cry.” Father Vargas, a Dominican priest, says a blessing for Rafael, and claims that “from the sadness of death rises the joy of immortality.”
This scene illustrates the instantaneous effect that death has on the living. Rafael’s passing results in his parents’ immediate and profound grief. Even the señor, an often-unemotional character, is ready to cry about his loss. A Dominican priest attempts to offer solace by preaching about death, but the señor’s and señora’s reactions reveal that even the prospect of immortality is unable to lessen the impact of the child’s demise.
Themes
Señora Valencia then asks the priest to be at the family gravesite the next day, where Rafael will be buried next to her mother and brother. The señora asks Doctor Javier why her son died, and he answers that the boy “lost his breath”—but his expression reveals that he knows the explanation is weak at best. The señora begins to paint and sketch red orchids—similar to the ones in her garden—on her son’s coffin. She occasionally looks at the body of her dead son, and then devotes herself to painting again.
When the señora discusses burying her son next to her mother, she implies that the grief left behind by death is a lifelong burden that grows over time as more people pass away. Moreover, the morbid imagery of a gravesite housing three generations suggests that death is pervasive, as it can be experienced at any stage of life, from parenthood to infancy.
Themes
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Señora Valencia begins to talk to Amabelle—who has kept her company as she paints the coffin—about the day she found Amabelle by the river. Señora Valencia says that “after [her] mother’s death, the house was so filled with her presence.” She had visited Dajabón with Don Ignacio, and saw Amabelle sitting by the riverside as if she was “waiting for an apparition.” During their first meeting, Don Ignacio had asked Amabelle “who [she] belonged to,” and Amabelle replied, in Haitian Creole, that she belonged to herself. Amabelle remembers this, but the story is interrupted when Señor Pico comes into the room.
The señora, like Amabelle, also recalls childhood scenes, offering another example of how memory safeguards the past against being forgotten. Memory’s protective abilities are further proven by the señora’s words about her mother: the memory of her mother was powerful enough to linger beyond her death. It’s also significant that Amabelle’s initial declaration of self-possession was in her native language, a symbolic affirmation of her Haitian identity. Even as a child, Amabelle connected her sense of self—and her sense of belonging—to Haitian culture.
Themes
Señora Valencia tells him that there should be “no wake,” as that would be “too sad for such a short life.” The señor agrees, and Señora Valencia finishes her story: she tells Amabelle that after her mother died, she was “desperate” for someone to “come live with [her] in this house.” Amabelle disregards the story, and envies Señora Valencia; she realizes that her parents, unlike Rafael, have no final resting place or coffin.
Amabelle’s reaction to the señora’s story illustrates how thoroughly her idea of home has changed. She does not focus on the señora’s confession that Amabelle’s arrival was much desired—which proves how important a role Amabelle played in the señora’s household. Instead, she fixates on the idea that her own family, unlike the señora’s child, has no gravesite. Amabelle’s priorities have changed; she no longer feels connected to the señora, but instead prioritizes the family she lost back in Haiti.
Themes
