Respond to Children of the Sea

     Well first of all, I think this story was the most entertaining out of the material that we're read this week although it was also the longest. Also I like the format it was written in because it makes the story more interesting that two people are writing letters to each other while they're many miles apart. Additionally, the overall plot of the story was very insightful because I've never realized how horrible the situation is in Haiti because we never hear about that country in the news unless there were natural disasters such as the 7.0 magnitude earthquake last year. With the female character providing most of the information about the "current" situation in Haiti and the male character describing his situation of trying to survive on the boat, it makes this story more entertaining and gets me thinking at the same time.
     After analyzing the female character in this story, I think that the author created her character to summarize the current situation in Haiti. Some examples of that is how she mentions about the soldiers killing off people associated with the Youth Federation that opposed the government and how it's very difficult to leave the country with regulations such as the gasoline ban. With her, I could also see how true human nature surfaces in the face of a crisis. When I say that, I mean when people are in a life or death situation, it's human nature for most people to run away or not care about what's happening in order to survive which was demonstrated when her father didn't go save madam roger when she was murdered by the soldiers.
     The female's writing only covered half of the story while the male's journal entries cover the part just outside of Haiti. By reading the male character's writing, I could tell that the situation on the boat is dire because food was running out and boat was about to sink. When many of the people on the boat including the male character lost the hope that they were going to live, they all thought about how many of their brethren were waiting for them in the sea. Consequently, many of them jumped off thinking they're sacrificing their lives so the others on the boat could have a greater chance of living. Also these acts demonstrated to me how these people thought there's a journey after death they go through which could be part of their religious belief. Additionally his thoughts about sacrificing himself seems to show me how when people see death as inevitable, they would make the most use of the time they're living so death wouldn't be so painful which the male demonstrated by writing to the female and potentially jumping off at the end.