500 Word Blog Post 4-14

In My Love, My Love, or The Peasant Girl, the peasant people of the island look up to the Gods as a source of hope and guidance. They pray to them for the well being of their people, crops and the islanders will only follow paths that they believe the God's lead them down. Through the polytheistic believes of the islanders we are introduced to 4 Gods that all play impotant roles in the book. Agwe the God of the sea, Erzulie the goddess of love, Asaka the goddess of the Earth and all growing things, and Papa Gé who is an angle of death.


In the text of the book, each God or goddess is described vividly. All of the God's have the power to rave havoc on the people or bring them joy. In the early chapters of the book, we see a great storm which is brought down from Agwe who is displeased. The storm kills many including Ti Moune's biogolcial parents. "Agwe sometimes unleashed to devote fields, flood roads, and sweep everything out of the sea."  In chapter 2 there is a drought and the people are thrown into a famine. "What have we done against Agwe?" the people ask. These quotes shows that Agwe uses his power to bring terror to the people of the island. This is largely due to the fights the Gods have with one another. Agwe  would be a prevalent figure on stage. I would give him a long wavy robe with aggressive cuts in the lower sections of the robe. It would seem as if the waves of the ocean were fighting the sand on the shoreline. This could further highlight his conflict with Asaka. He would also wear black outliner on his eyes, and I would even give yellow eyes to show his violent nature.


Erzulie is seen as beautiful. "Then from out of the dimness in the back, emerged a women, tall, broad, beautiful. She approached Désirée, her white lace dress sparkling and heavy with beads." The text then goes on to describe Erzulie as "The loveliest women." If I were to put Erzulie on stage I would give her an elegant pink dress. This dress would be the highland feature of her character and the subtle color shows a pure and open mind.


Asaka is seen as lazy by Agwe. "Agwe, blaming her laziness for all the ills visited on poor peasants." She was not attentive during the Gods dispute and the people have gone hungry after their crops were wiped out. Asaka on stage would be never seen as prevalent. She would always be in the shadows of the other Gods. Therefore I would give her a brown dress and common features that could be overlooked but also separate her from the people.


Papa Gé is described as "Not a man, a demon. His mouth gleamed red, blood red. He grinned around a cigar clenched between brown teeth that were dripping with blood." If I were to put him on stage, I would give the actor a routine in coreography to make his movements seem almost an animal like or move like someone who has been posessed. His makeup and clothing would be all black. He would have gleaming red eyes, and long messy hair. By showing Papa Gé in this fashion,  he would be a dominant figure on stage, and my goal would be to give the audience nightmares about him.