Taste Of Salt Essay, Research Paper

This story takes place in the slums of Haiti. In a hospital bed, lays Djo, beaten and hardly alive. Djo is an innocent victim of a political firebombing. The Macoutes, or the bad guys, pour gasoline in and on the camps of the followers of Aristide. They rob and slaughter the members of the camps. He is also a vital member of Father Jean Bertrand Aristide?s. Father Aristide, or as the local Haitians call him, Titid, sends Jeremie to Djo. She has a tape recorder with her. Jeremie is there to listen and to tape Djo?s story as from a little child to present date. Djo tells her of how he was raised in Cit? Soleil, a very poor and large part of Port-au-Prince.

Djo lived in a one room house witch was a stall for a motor car, or a garage. He lives with his mother, father, two sisters and two brothers, also his cousin Lally. All of the children sleep in one bed together and the mother and father have a bed of their own. His family is very poor, just like the rest of the citizens of Port-au-Prince. During the story, Djo finds Aristide.

Aristide, or as Djo calls him, Titid, is the first democratically elected president of Haiti. He is a Salesian priest whose first and continuing ministry has been among the poor of Port-au-Prince. Father Aristide wants Haiti to become better. He wants people to live decent lives, with food everyday, and clean water to drink. People like Djo and Jeremie are the one who try to overthrow military dictatorship in Haiti.

I think that Djo is a very determined man. He was poor all of life and didn?t just feel bad for himself. He rised above it to actually do something about the terrible case of poverty in his country. Djo almost gave his life to overthrow the militia government. Everyone who heard his story, because it was amazingly full of courage loved him.

Salt tastes rancid and bitter. So, Francis Temple relates the taste of salt with the lives of the Haitians. In other words, ?Taste of Salt? is referred to, taste of bitterness. The bitterness was the pithy description of poverty in Haiti.

?Is hope they want to kill, Jeremie.?

?Is hope we need to keep alive, the, Djo?

?And we will, Jeri, don?t you think??

I chose that passage from the book because it was powerful. It said how the Macoutes wanted to kill, or take away their hope of a new Haiti. Also how it said that they need to keep on hoping, and that they will. No matter what happens.

Djo changes when Donay dies. He thinks about Christ and what his father said about the ?go-between?. He asks himself if the go-between can be any person like Donay. Djo thought that Donay was a good person and he wanted to tell him that his life was important. Donay thought that his life was used and thrown away like he wasn?t important. Djo truthfully thought that he was the best.

I thought this book really made me realize the actual poverty and sad lives that is and was happening in Haiti. I felt sad for Djo, for all he really wanted was a new Haiti, and big powerful people were in his way. I don?t believe that people should be treated that way, and everyone has rights to be able to survive.