Between the Pool and the GardeniasThe sad, shocking story, "Between the Pool and the Gardenias" by Edwidge Danicat shows how past experiences can effect the actions we take in the future. The main character, Marie, lets her experiences with loneliness, many miscarriages and bad relationships contribute to her decision to take a dead baby off a street corner and bring it into her life.Marie is very lonely. She has no one in her life, not even a family. Besides her husband, everyone in her family is dead. Her mother's death is not explained but the reader knows that she is dead because Marie says that even though there is a distance of death betw ...view middle of the document...
Her miscarriages affected her greatly causing her much suffering over the years. Marie left her village due to all these painful emotions. The second person who used her was a Dominican man she had met. Marie states, "The Dominican and I made love on the grass once, but he never spoke to me again" (Danticat 96). At the end of the story, Marie encounters the Dominican again when she is burying the baby in the garden. He accuses her of killing the baby and gets her in trouble with the law. The fact that Marie was abused emotionally in both situations partly explains why she held onto the baby for so long. She felt she needed something permanent in her life.When Marie took in the baby off the street corner, she felt as though her greatest desire was finally being fulfilled. She called out all the names she was going to name her children if she hadn't had miscarriages. Marie dressed the baby with the unused clothing she had sewn for them. The baby is someone Marie can actually talk to and even though it's dead, Marie still loves her. "It's so easy to love somebody, I tell you, when there's nothing else around" (Danticat 96). The baby makes her feel whole. It gives her something to live for.There are many factors that can lead up to why someone makes a decision. In Marie's case, it was her past experiences. She was lonely, had no family, was cheated on and had many miscarriages. The baby was someone for Marie to talk to, love and care about. This baby made Marie's life change forever.
