Study Guide

Breath, Eyes, Memory Book 1, Chapter 3

Book 1, Chapter 3

Tante Atie takes Sophie to her Grandmè Ifé's house in La Nouvelle Dame Marie—five hours away—so she can say goodbye before heading to New York.
We learn that Martine had sent money to have Ifé's house fixed up, so it's much nicer than the other houses in the area.
Sophie's grandmother's very happy to see her and promises to cook all the things that she likes to eat. She reminds Sophie that a mother is always your first friend.
Sophie has trouble sleeping, because she expects to have that nightmare where her mother snatches her from Tante Atie.
They leave the next day, so that Sophie's grandmother won't suffer "chagrin"—which Sophie defines as an actual disease you can get from emotional upset.
Sophie asks Atie if a person can die of "chagrin"; Atie says that it's not a sudden illness, but one that takes you apart piece by piece. It just happens.
Atie tells Sophie about Guinea—a version of heaven/the otherworld—and people there who hold up the sky with their heads. Those who have trouble in this world are these sky-bearers.

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