The Dew Breaker is a 2004 novel by Haitian American author Edwidge Danticat. The novel focuses partly on life in Haiti under the totalitarian regime of Francois Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier. The Duvaliers were deposed in 1986, and book offers glimpses into the lives of Haitians and Haitian Americans in the aftermath of the regime. Some of these historical events are mentioned directly. Most of the time, though, historical events are revealed indirectly through the everyday lives of the characters as they cope with the effects of this history on their psychological and physical existence.

The title refers to the “dew breaker,” a nickname for the torturers who worked for the Duvaliers. As we learn in the novel, the torturers earned this nickname by arriving at the homes of their victims at the break of day, just as dew appeared on the leaves. Often these torturers would take their victims away to one of two prison facilities in the capital, Port-au-Prince; other times they would simply execute them at home or in the street.

Plot Summary

The novel consists of nine stories that can be read individually but share threads of connection. One of the main characters in the novel, and one of the connecting binding these stories together, is the dew breaker. In Part 1 we find him in the United States, trying not only to escape his past (and its potential legal consequences) but also to redeem himself for his crimes. In the final part we learn his complicated backstory, which confuses our initial condemnation of his criminal past. The rest of the novel does not directly concern this character, but nearly all the characters cross paths with him or another dew breaker in some way.

Part 2 details the reunion of a husband and wife, who endured separation for seven years as the husband worked two jobs to help his wife immigrate to America. Part 3 follows Nadine, who struggles under a sense of voicelessness and feels isolated from her family and coworkers. Part 4 formally introduces Anne, the dew breaker’s wife, and follows the family as they attend Mass.

Part 5 focuses on Dany, who returns to Haiti to visit his elderly Aunt Estina. Part 6 tracks a young journalist named Aline as she interviews a Haitian seamstress, Beatrice, who believes she is being stalked by the dew breaker who punished her back in Haiti.

Part 7 functions as a sort of memoir, with a soon-to-be father named Michel recording his experience of the days following Jean-Claude Duvalier’s flight from Haiti for his unborn son. Part 8 depicts a trio of Haitian women who gather at a restaurant to socialize, bond, and study English. Part 9, the concluding story, is divided into 13 sections that shift between three perspectives. This story unveils the personal histories of the dew breaker, his wife Anne, and Anne’s stepbrother, with the final section flashing forward to the novel’s present day, explaining what happened afterward and coming full circle to Part 1.

The connections between the characters of these intertwining stories demonstrate the complex relationships between Haitians and Haitian Americans, as well as the fragmented nature of life for the survivors of a period that left no one untouched or unharmed. The novel’s themes include totalitarianism in Haiti, fatherhood, art, community, and family, among others. Recurring symbolic tropes include scars, doubles and double lives, the betrayal of women by men, and the complex intersections of individual lives.