The Dew Breaker

Dany, one of the dew breaker’s tenants, enters the dew breaker’s bedroom at night and contemplates killing him because he killed Dany’s parents. Ultimately, Dany decides to let the dew breaker live. Why does make this decision? Is it the right decision? Why, or why not?

This novel seems equally divided between male and female characters. What do you think Danticat’s intention is in this regard? What similarities and differences do you see in the experiences of the male and female characters in The Dew Breaker?

Two questions left for the reader to resolve is whether we can forgive the dew breaker and whether we consider him redeemed. What do you think about these difficult questions? How might he or might he not be forgiven or redeemed?

Parts 1, 4, and 9 mark the central parts of the text because they propel the main narrative thread that focuses on the dew breaker. Aside from these three, which part do you take to be the most important? What makes this particular story so significant?

Isolation and separation are two threads that bind the text together thematically. Examine how isolation and separation are depicted in three of the stories, particularly with regard to the experiences of immigration or oppression from a totalitarian regime.

Discuss Danticat’s depiction of art and artists. How do characters like Ka, the funeral singer, Aline, and Michel use creative expression? What is the significance of their art in the narrative? How does that reflect the purpose of art in the real world?

Scars are an important symbol in the text, especially in Part 1, in which Ka reflects on the superficial cracks in the sculpture intended to honor her father, who is scarred on his face. Contrast how Ka and her father perceive these scars. What do their diverging perspectives say about them and their worldviews?

The novel opens with Ka’s father confessing his misdeeds. The final story recounts his life as a dew breaker and then flashes forward, as Ka hangs up on Anne, who is trying to explain her husband’s past. Why do you think Danticat structured the novel nonchronologically? Why do you think she chose such an open-ended conclusion?