The Dewbreaker

I identify with the wife in the short story Seven. I identify with the wife because of the realities of immigration. In most cases, one member of the family goes to America (usually the husband) and then works to file for the rest of the family so that they could all live in America together.

The wife reminds me of my mother and how she felt coming to the United States. When my stepfather filed for us, he had to file for my mother and me. My younger brother, who was just a baby at the time, did not need to worry because since my stepfather was a citizen, he, too, was a citizen. He just had to get on a plane.

Unlike the characters in the story, we did not spend out first night in an apartment. My stepfather found a house with the help of his co-workers. A lot like the character in Seven, my mother wanted to work and my father did not really want her to. She spoke English because Jamaica has a  British education system but a lot of places assumed that she did not. She ended up going to a community college where she had to prove she could speak English properly.

I think this short story has a very realistic view of a man's life without his wife until she can come to the United States. While women would hope that their men would not be led astray by other women in her absence, the main character's thought is what she does not know cannot hurt her. What matters now is that they are together and that they must learn to blend in with the American lifestyle. They are not in Haiti anymore.