Breath, Eyes, Memory

I think, in this book, the idea of not being free to make your own choices is very important. I think a lot of the feelings or actions that the women were making were because they felt is was their "duty." With Tante Atie, she had to let Sophie go back to her mother and she was deeply sad about this but she did not let her feelings show. "We have no right to be sad" (17) is how she responded to Sophie's leaving, meaning she felt she did not have a right to be sad because Sophie was not her real child. Another instance of Tante Atie expressing duty is when she told Sophie "We are each going to our mothers. that is what was supposed to happen" (19). In both of these instances tante Atie never spoke of wanting to do these things. Another instance of
"duty" is the testing. The testing was seen as the mother's responsibility to protect their daughter. This is seen when Martine says, "..... a mother is supposed to do that to her daughter until the daughter is married. It is her responsibility to keep her pure" (66). I think what is more interesting is that everyone hated it but until Sophie no one stopped the tradtiion of it. Even Sophie showed signs of doing things only because she felt she had to. After Sophie had the baby she was not interested in being sexual but she still had sex with her husband because she felt that it was her duty as a wife. I think in this book one can see how being forced or feeling pressured to do something really affect one's life. That a person's freedom can liberate a person and without it they can feel like a "caged bird."