Hardships

Passport to Paradise is a little different than some stories we have read this semester. The women in this story seem to be the one working all the time in the field and takes care of all eight of her children. "Their cane crop had all been harvested the day before, so that day she had begun to weed her vegetable garden. As she always did, she sang one of the old tunes which came from deep in her memory to keep time with her hoe as she dug up the weeds.  She loved her man, her healthy children, her clean house; she was blessed with the strength and courage to work" (Myriam Warner-Vieyra, Passport to Paradise). The woman in this story is the one who has to st
ay strong. She is the one who is working, taking care of the children, and managing the house. Most of the other stories we have read have the women below the men. This story is an exception in that the woman is the main person in this story and everything revolves around her and her doings. Even when the husband doesn't do much, she still is happy to have him and you can see her love for him when she goes through the amount of trouble to get his body blessed. When her husband dies, she does everything she can to get his body blessed so he can go to heaven. She still cares about him so much that she wants him to be in heaven for eternity and not hell just because his body was not blessed. 

 

Eloise was a strong self-sufficient woman who loved her husband very much. Even though her husband was good for nothing drunk, she still loved him. Eloise had eight children who she took care of by herself, she still worked in the fields every day while she watched her young children while she worked. Her life was difficult, but instead of being sad about her hard life, she embraced it. She embraced the many hardships that she faced. One of her difficulties was trying to get her husband’s body blessed by the church after he died. The church refused to bless his body because he was “a notorious alcoholic, living in sin, had died without going to confession. No act of contrition, no absolution, no extreme unction, no benediction. (Myriam Warner-Vieyra, Passport to Paradise). Eloise knew that the church had blessed much worse men before. The only reason the church did not bless his body was due to that they were poor and black. The rich and powerful rule and run the land, and for that reason, her husband was now going to burn in hell for eternity. Eloise being desperate for her husband to be in heaven had to purchase a passport to paradise. Eloise had to sell her most valuable possession for her to be able to purchase the amulet she has to place on her husband’s body.