Introduction
The short story entitled “Night Women” by Edwidge Danticat is a monologue. The protagonist is a young woman who is a prostitute and leads a secret life with her young son who is not aware of what is going on. From the exposition that is given about the story, it is clear that the young woman is not comfortable with her prostitute business. The circumstances surrounding her force her to continue exercising prostitution. One of the reasons why the young woman is not comfortable with her prostitution is because it is against Haitian culture and traditions. To be able to sustain herself on a financial basis, she has to continue with this moral evil because she loves her son in a great way. From the background information that we get about the short story, it is reasonable to say that the complications arise when the young mother ponders whether to continue with her prostitute business or not. In a nutshell, the complication is the internal fight, in the young woman’s mind, as she wrestles between the Haitian culture and tradition that is against prostitution and her financial survival in the Haitian society that is faced with abject poverty. The climax occurs when the woman concludes that women who work during the day do not have the independence to do what they want. This leads to the resolution. She argues that her prostitution business is worthwhile since it gives her the independence to do what she wants and in addition provides a source of income to support her son who she loves very much.
Main body
Edwidge Danticat brings out complications within the story by creating a protagonist who exercises a prostitution business that is considered to be a moral evil within Haitian society. The young woman has a moral decision to make. She has to choose whether to continue engaging in prostitution that grants her the independence to sustain herself financially. She thinks deeply about the two options. She knows that “there are two kinds of women: day women and night women”(Danticat 84). She finds it hard to make a decision. She is “…stuck between the day and night in a golden amber bronze”(Danticat 84). Edwidge Danticat uses the day woman to represent the women in the Haitian society that respect the Haitian culture and tradition and who follow it to the letter. On the hand, he uses the night woman to represent the women in the Haitian society who are not ready to abide by the culture. These women view culture as an obstacle to their independence. They wish to do whatever their hearts wish. They are willing to do anything without considering the cultural integrity of their deeds to obtain their livelihood.
Edwidge Danticat creates the climax of the story when the young woman decides to continue with her prostitution business. She decides to become a “night woman”. The main reason why she justifies her final decision is that there are cases of oppression, especially for low-class people within the Haitian society. There are also some incidences of racism that the lower class is subjected to. Bearing in mind that she is ranked within the lower class in Haitian society, it is clear that the circumstances surrounding her are not favorable and she cannot be in a position to thrive financially yet she has the burden of raising her son. She is hence left with no choice other than resolving to continue with her prostitution business to survive in this society.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, it is reasonable to conclude that the protagonist with the short story entitled “ Night Women” by Edwidge Danticat resolves to continue with her prostitution business because of the oppression of the lower class, and the racism that the lower class is subjected to within the Haitian society.