week 7 Dewbreaker

What are the primary features of this world--spatial, cultural, biological, fantastic, cosmological? 

Dominique Flemings

In Dominique’s worldbuilding, he compared the culture of his homeland in Europe (Italy, England, Germany, Spain, and Holland) to the many cultures in America. Then he talks about the color of his skin.  He gives a detailed description comparing his skin to the skin of people of a mixed race having different cultures in America. The primary features of Dominique’s world are cultural and biological.

For comparison, I read Edwidge Danticat's Dewbreaker. The story takes place in Florida where a little girl name “Ka” wakes up from her sleep alone in a hotel room.  “Ka” was born and raised in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, but had moved to Florida with her father. She notices that her father has left the hotel room with her amazing statue that she made.  In the story, we are told that her father likes Egyptian culture. When he was in New York, he loved to go to the Brooklyn Museum where it housed Ancient Egyptian artifacts. He told Ka that “The Egyptian worshiped their gods in many forms, fought among themselves, and were often ruled by foreigners.” She remembered that her father admired the Ancient Egyptian ways because they mourn their dead. He said, “They are known as grieve.” Her father named her “Ka” because it sounded more Egyptian-like. Other than this, Ka did not know that much about her father.

In another excerpt from Edwidge Danticat's Dewbreaker, I focused on the following: “the Cuban woman who is over, polite, making up her lack of English with deferential gestures: a great big smile, nod, even a bow as she backs out of the room. She reminds me of my mother when she has to work on non-Haitian clients at Barely beauty shop, how she pays much more attention to those clients, forcing herself to laugh at jokes, she barely understands and smiles insults she doesn't quite grasp, all to avoid being forced into a conversational knowing she couldn't hold up her end very well.” 

Edwidge Danticat’s worldbuilding in Dewbreaker focused on cultural features rather than biological features. We see this when Ka describes her name and her father’s fascination on Ancient Egypt.  We see this she describes her mother working in the beauty shop.  The behaviors she describes are all cultural based and do not focus on biological features seen in Dominique’s worldbuilding.