Gay's Ayiti Summary

Gay’s Ayiti, is complementary with Danticat’s collection in the sense that it offers a more diasporic narrative of Haiti and gives further context of the Haitian immigration experience. Gay begins the collection with “Motherfuckers” and “About My Father’s Accent” to demonstrate the struggles that immigrants face that help them shape their sense of identity and develop family relationships. In “Motherfuckers,” Gerard is introduced as a fourteen-year-old boy who recently immigrated to America. The boy is adamant with regards to his hatred of America, “Gerard spends his days thinking about the many reasons he hates America that include but are not limited to the people, the weather, having to drive everywhere and having to go to school every day.” (Gay 13) Yet Gerard seems to be living in a bubble or dream that protects him early on as he is obvious to …show more content…
Gerard’s notion of identity is at a crossroads because he feels the needs to assimilate into American culture and gain approval from his peers but he also wishes to preserve his Haitian heritage that his father has passed down. Gerard’s identity crisis reaches a tipping point when, during the second month of school, he finds a bag of colognes in his locker and figures out that “HBO” is poking fun at his body odor. Gerard revolts and wears an excessive amount of cologne to gain revenge on his classmates and his “Yippee Kai Yay’s” are now uttered with sadness. As Gerard is trying to find the right balance between his American and Haitian identities, he ultimately sides with Haiti as he his furious that his classmates disrespected his culture by making fun of his body odor, a trait that he gained from mimicking his father’s hygiene habits. The passage displays Gerard’s struggle of finding his cultural identity after recently immigrating and expresses the tough transition immigrants face in their new