Epilogue

The narrator of the epilogue is unidentified, but it seems like it's author Danticat herself. She speaks as a second person using "you" during most of the story. She narrates about the struggle of becoming a writer, especially the confliction between her and mother about writing. She further links braids with writing, since writing is complicated as the hair braids structure does. Then she talks about when she first showed her writing to her mother for the first time. The narrator then explains her mom's point of view and shows mother's disappointment after listening daughter's huge interest in writing, because the mother thinks she made huge devotion, which is not enough to be repaid by writing. She thinks the narrator should be a nurse, who can support a family and to survive in this tough reality. She implies that most of the writers, who used to be politicians, ended their lives in the prison while getting killed or raped. Since mom knows harsh government and reality very well, she argues with her daughter and her dream. The story is mostly about their conflict and argument that the narrator tries to become a writer, and her mother opposes it.