Everything Inside

The collection includes a number of stories featuring parental relationships. How do these relationships evolve and shape the characters' identities and choices?

How does the collection explore the concept of grief and mourning? Analyze the ways in which characters cope with loss and the impact it has on their lives.

Explore the importance of Haitian history to the collection. How does a knowledge of Haitian culture enhance audience understanding of the text? How so?

How does Danticat’s depiction of the immigrant experience differ across the collection? How do those experiences determine or shape those of people born in the diaspora?

Analyze Danticat’s use of Haitian Creole in the collection. How does the inclusion of Creole words and phrases—translated or untranslated—impact the meaning of the stories? How does this linguistic inclusion challenge ideas of “general audience”?

The island where “Seven Stories” takes place is never named and does not correspond with any real country. How does this imaginary location compare to the settings of the rest of the stories in the collection? Why might Danticat choose to leave this location unnamed?

Many of the stories in this collection take place in Miami. How does the city’s landscape—beaches, skyscrapers, etc.—impact the action of these stories? What connection do the stories draw between environment and society?

Explore depictions of religion in the stories in this collection. How do Danticat’s descriptions of prayer, ritual, and religious ceremony impact the collection’s themes and/or characters?