Paradise and The Dew Breaker

In this blog I will be discussing some of the differences and similarities of Paradise by Toni Morrison and The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat. The three questions that will be discussed are: 1. What role does race play in both of these novels?
2. Why are these novels considered African-American Literature and what defines this genre?
3. How is whiteness apparent in these novels?
Both of these novels raise discussion in these areas. By addressing the first question it is seen that race differs in its uses in both of these novels. In Paradise race is seen through the 8-rocks and their desire of dark skin. In this novel there is also mention of the white race in a couple of instances; however, it is not extremely apparent. The white girl that is shot is made to seem less important than all of the other women at the convent who are of colored skin. This shows that the community of Ruby and the people therein are very set in their own race and don't want any sort of integration in their lives. There seems to be a similar case in The Dew Breaker with little to no mention of another race. The people of Haiti although they have come to America seem to have a very strong sense of self when surrounded by their own race. Only slight mentions of white people are shown in this novel (eg. Miss Hinds). It is different in how the characters in Paradise don't want any integration at all and make many references to race while the characters in The Dew Breaker emerge themselves into another culture and make hardly any mention of it.
The second question can be answered any many ways yet there is still the ambiguity of what really is African American Literature. In class the idea was thrown around that African American Literature can be classified by being about the African American people and their struggles. This could be true even if the author was not African American; however, it does help to have the credibility that an African American author would have. This topic is very debatable and there any many ideas within.
The third question was already partially answered in the race question. The appearance of whiteness in these novels differs in slight ways. There are only a few mentions of white people in both of these novels and this shows the way race is important but also segregated at the time periods in which the novels take place. These questions are very important in the determining of factors of African American novels in that they raise more questions and cause the reader to think more throughly about what classifies a certain novel as African American and the parts, such as race, within the novel that make it so.