Grandmè Ifé Timeline and Summary

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• Ifé welcomes Atie and Sophie to her house in Dame Marie, in order to say farewell to her granddaughter before Sophie returns to her mother in New York.
• She doesn't see her granddaughter again until Sophie returns to Haiti with her own child, Brigitte.
• Ifé takes Sophie to the market in Dame Marie to buy provisions. They see the Tonton Macoutes beating Dessalines, the coal-vendor. Ifé rushes Sophie home.
• She tells Sophie that she wishes that Atie would go to New York with Martine, since she has been very unhappy in Dame Marie.
• Ifé won't consider leaving Haiti herself. Sophie shares her marital problems with Ifé.
• She tells the story of the lark who falls in love with the beautiful little girl.
• There is tension between Atie and Ifé, because Atie is so unhappy with her life and Ifé doesn't approve of her friend, Louise.
• She receives a cassette tape from Martine, who tells her that Sophie has gone missing and that her nightmares have returned.
• Ifé fights with Atie, slapping her daughter when Atie says that death would be welcome to her.
• She goes to pay last respects to Dessalines, who was killed by the Macoutes. When she returns, Ifé points out the brightly lit house where a baby is being born.
• Ifé teaches Sophie about "supernatural" hearing, telling her about a young girl (Ti Alice) who she can hear moving through the night.
• She has to explain to Sophie why she "tested" her daughters when they were young. After Sophie shares her pain, Ifé apologizes for any suffering she's caused.
• But she also tells her granddaughter that she has to get past all that now.
• When Martine arrives, she and Ifé get some business done: preparing Ifé's funeral and dividing up the land among the Caco women.
• She encourages Martine to make up with Sophie, so that they will at least be friends.
• Ifé buys Louise's pig, giving the girl enough money to flee Haiti.
• She says goodbye to Sophie and Martine, who are returning to New York.
• When Sophie returns to Haiti to bury her mother, Ifé tells her that she sensed everything that happened before she was told.
• She is overwhelmed when she sees Martine in the coffin, and can't look at her daughter's dead face.
• When Sophie confronts the cane field where Martine was raped, Ifé asks her if she is finally free.