Westbury Court

Westbury Court Carmen E. Manzueta Devry University

Westbury Court

There are many factors in life that contribute to an event that occurs. It can be good or bad, and one should try and take into account all the different factors, the list would never end. Memory can leave a person with a fear every time they remember it. People tend to bypass their memory or even start forgetting what happen in the past. Edwidge Danticat, in Westbury Court focuses on an event that happened during her childhood and is still affecting her in her adulthood. It is important for her to realize that everyone makes mistakes. These mistakes may be embarrassing and painful however; no matter how one looks at things everyone lives on the same level.

In the essay Westbury CourtDanticat wrote about the inevitable moments in life- the moments of guilt after one commits an undoable mistake. She expands on the topic by intricately going into the moments of when she commits her first very regrettable mistake. In Danticats case, her ignorance contributed to the death of her neighbors. Danticat, age fourteen, lived daily completely addicted to a TV soap opera called General Hospital. One day, a fire blew up in her neighborhoods apartment; the cause was from two little boys playing with matches. However, Danticat was so engrossed with General Hospital that she became ignorant of all outside of her building. Next door, everyone was evacuating and screaming for help, however Danticat and her siblings were inside at home watching a television drama.

Furthermore, the memories that the author had of Westbury Court werent so pleasant. But its as she got older she start to think back about what had happen and why

Westbury Court the event in her life was significant. Everyone must go through something to learn. Later on as an adult one can realize what they have been through. For instance, when I was young in Haiti I was forced to study and do my homework immediately after school. I was not even allowed to eat or do any other activity. I had to prove my parents my homework and also recite to them. To me I think that time would have been better if I was allowed to eat first then I would have been in a better position to do my school work. Initially, his mothers response that it is too late to say I shouldnt have appears to serve only as a warning to her sons not play with fire as Danticat tells us his brother drops the habit of playing with match sticks. However, upon rereading it as suggested in class, a second meaning surfaces. Repeating his mothers comment it is sometimes too late to say I shouldnt have in the final paragraph after his introspection and questioning whether his memory was correct, whether they really died or simply moved away, whether they were really two boys or two girl, or whether he was just trying to phase them out of his memory altogether possibly suggests the futility on dwelling on the past. Remembering or questioning what you remember is true cannot change what happened. It is too late to remember as whats done was done. Saying I shouldnt have been so engrossed in General Hospital (or his own life) that I did not hear the screams across the hall of two dying boys of the world around will not change what was. Whether the two boys were actually two girls, whether they had died or simply moved away, and whether Danticat was just trying to phase out this memory will not change the past or what was. One can likewise interpret this as admonishment; Danticat was too caught up with General Hospital and too wrapped up in his own life to even hear let alone

Westbury Court realize screams, cries across the hall. He was too caught up with a fictional TV show about saving lives to even hear realitys call to save two lives. Danticat realizes it is too late to say I shouldnt have been so engrossed in General Hospital (or his own life) to not hear the screams across the hall of two dying boysof the world around him. Its important to realize we will all run into scary situations. However, humans are not beings made to live life alone. When we go through into these situations, we mustnt be afraid to be honest with ourselves and grow stronger. When the time comes we must admit to our faults, reflect what caused things to be so, and learn to become a stronger person.