After reading Chapters 5-8 of Breath, Eyes, Memory it is quite evident that the pace of the novel is beginning to pick up.  From Sophie’s flight to New York to her initial meeting with her mother, I definitely felt indulged in her emotional apprehension and perturb.  With this being said, what I found most enthralling would have to be the relationship that the novel establishes thus far for Sophie and her mother.  This is founded by her very first greeting with her mother, Martine after getting off of the plane and arriving in New York.  Martine begins to explain to Sophie that education is the only way to gain reverence, and though I agree with this to a certain extent, it is lucid that Martine is more so inveigling Sophie to strive to be what her and Atie couldn’t be.  In ways, it is as if she is trying to vicariously live through Sophie, especially when she states, “If you make something of yourself in life, we will succeed.”  This brings me to another pertinent point during this discussion, which is that of Martine emphasizing her and Atie.  From her speech, she makes it seem as if Atie and herself (two women) are her biological parents, instead of a man and woman.  I say this because it is later pointed out in Chapter 8 that Sophie is the product of rape.  Throughout these 4 chapters, Sophie’s distressed inquisitiveness as to why she had no father, or why she didn’t resemble her mother all come crashing down on her, and even reminded me of Tituba’s situation.  Martine had never seen her rapist’s face, so for her to now look at Sophie, who she knows carries no comparability, implies something that is arduous to fathom.  This in itself definitely stood out to me, and I am curious to see how this will affect their relationship throughout the novel’s remainder.