To Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat delves into the difficult role women must play in a corrupt Haitian society. It portrays some of these requirements through the various transformations in the story "The Missing Peace". With this important text, Danticat indicates that maturity and sexuality are not the same thing and that personal development is linked to learning to cope with loss and to put society and one's place in it into perspective. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. Emilie arrives as a tourist in Ville Rose in search of her missing mother. Her research, however, mainly serves to confirm her mother's death, to take a step into reality and to start the grieving process. She feels disconnected from her mother and doesn't want her to leave as she tells Lamort, "'I see my mother sinking in a river and still calling my name"' (116). Emilie cannot save her mother even though she is calling Emilie for help, and Emilie feels useless. In an attempt to reach her mother and try to save her, Emilie goes to the cemetery. Although he already knows the outcome, he cannot accept it completely. That night, after painfully watching soldiers drag a dead man to the ground, he knows he can't physically reach his mother. Instead, Emilie works on her mother's quilt, which helps her internally with her mother, and says, "'I lost my mother and all my other dreams"' (121). Although this saddens Emilie, as she knows she will never find her mother, she also accepts her mother's death. Lamort helps Emilie overcome her grief by acting as a temporary mother to her. When they first converse, Lamort repeats to Emilie some wise comments that her grandmother said to Lamort earlier. Additionally, Emilie feels an immediate connection as she tells Lamort that she looks like a journalist. Later, Emilie mentions that her mother was also a journalist. This connection strengthens between them and Emilie later asks Lamort to stay with her overnight. Lamort agrees: "'because I know you're afraid"' (121). Lamort knows that Emilie is afraid of sleeping without her mother in her dreams, so he replaces Emilie's mother to help her transition after losing her mother. Although Lamort transforms into a mother, she doesn't fully feel like one until she changes her name. . Lamort literally means “the dead” in French. His grandmother does not tell Lamort his mother's name, Marie Magdalene, because she blames Lamort for the death. Lamort doesn't care much about his name because he thinks his grandmother makes all the decisions. Once she acts as a mother to Emilie and makes her accept death, she feels ready to live with that name. So, after returning home, she approaches her grandmother: “'I want you to call me Maria Maddalena'. I liked the sound” (122). She is happy with her name and also feels more connected to her mother. Her grandmother seems “pained” to call Lamort by her precious daughter's name, but she also knows that she must let go and please Lamort (122). In this way Lamort helps the grandmother, similarly to Emilie, to accept her daughter's death. Lamort changes his name and acts like a mother especially because he truly transforms into a woman. At the beginning of the story, Raymond says to Lamort, "'I know I can make you feel like a woman"' (103). He, like other men in the book, mistakenly believes that a girl becomes a woman when she has sex. He further pressures Lamort and asks, “'then why won't you let me?”' (103). He still doesn't understand how a girl truly becomes a woman. Instead, he tries to convince her to have sex with him because he knows she wants to feel like a woman. Additionally, his grandmother tells Lamort, “‘See, you can be a girl....