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The Farming of Bones is an impressive story about a young Haitian girl named Amabelle, her life, and her attempt at escaping during the sickening genocide of the time known as the Haitian Massacre of 1937. Danticat uses many tricks and literary devices to pull the reader into her book and what is going on during the setting. One such amazing device is placed before the novel actually begins. Indeed, before the even “dedication” from Amabelle, there is written a passage from the Bible. It is Judges 12:4-6, as found on the fourth page of Danticat’s The Farming of Bones: Jephthah called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordon leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he replied, “No,” they said, “Alright say ‘Shibboleth.’” If he said, “Sibboleth,” because he could not pronounce the work correctly they seized and killed him at the fords of the Jordon. Forty-thousand were killed at the time What is most interesting is this is not the most tradition version of the scripture. Indeed, it is almost misquoted. Here is the King James version of the scripture, as found on Bible.com: 4Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites. 5And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; 6Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. One can ask for what purpose did Danticat include this reference? Similarly, why did she choose to use an “easier to understand” revision of the quote? This scripture, and the way it is presented, provides one major purpose, that is, it sets up a large amount of foreshadowing and symbolism throughout the book, and of the book itself.
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