Cruel World During the twentieth century, many Haitians lived lives filled with poverty and terror; due to the numerous wars and epidemics that settled in the country. Throughout his novel Krik? Krak!, Edwidge Danticat describes the violence, brutality and cruelty suffered by her people during that time. In his first two stories we glimpse the horror that Haitian culture had to endure. Whether it was a group of protesting students gunned down, a young woman gang-raped, or an innocent woman sentenced to life in prison because she was believed to be a witch, the terror and horror seemed endless. How could one human being treat another this way? How can a Haitian treat another Haitian with such cruelty and harbor that kind of malice towards his own people? Danticat shows us the pain of his people through his words and demonstrates their healing power through his various tales. In his first story, “Children of the Sea,” we are introduced to two young adults who are in love with each other but separated. because of the terror that existed in their Haitian society. Because they feared for their lives, they had to separate in the hope of staying alive to see each other again. The society they lived in had become incredibly violent due to the Haitian army trying to rid the country of anyone who was against the government or who they thought was a traitor. The army's ormacoutes, as they were called, were cruel and ruthless. One of the young narrators of the story wrote in his diary “today a group of students were hit by a bullet in front of the Fort Dimanche prison… our neighbor Madan Roger came home with the head of her son… the macoutes near the house laughed at her. They asked her if it was her dinner" (p.7). The mascoutes mocked and laughed at the defenseless women who carried with them the head of their dead son, who they had previously shot. He was shot because he didn't agree with the government and its policies. But the mascots didn't just taunt Madan Roger, they also beat her severely. "Soldiers came looking for his son. Madan Roger was screaming, you already killed him... he hated you like I hate you criminals. You killed him.".