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Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory (1994) tells the story of a young Haitian immigrant Sophie Caco who leaves Haiti to go and join her mother in the U.S. The transplantation of Sophie in the U.S into a new culture and a new language lead to a sense of dislocation. Sophie only reaches a sense of wholeness when she returns to Haiti as an adult. While Haiti here becomes the site of liberation that allows for the psychological transformation of the protagonist, the novel is far from attempting to romanticize Haiti as the desired homeland. Haitian traditions and values are constantly contested in the novel. Haiti is a place where women are oppressed by political regimes and rigid patriarchal values, but it is also a place that testifies to the strength of Haitian womanhood. In this sense, North America does not become the site of freedom and liberation against which the patriarchal values and the oppressiveness of Haitian political regimes are evaluated. The novel moves beyond these simplistic dualities. America's racial and cultural politics are also questioned. Sophie is aware of her isolation in the U.S both as a black woman and as a Haitian immigrant. The complexity of Sophie's experiences both as an outsider and an insider to Haitian and American cultures, allows for a continuous renegotiation of identity. Danticat's use of English, French and Creole to articulate Sophie's transnational experience further complicates the narrative and opens it for reinterpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]