The musical adaptation of My Love, My Love reflects many themes from the novel including the contrast between Ti Moune and the other peasants, Ti Moune’s desire to fly free, and Ti Moune’s feeling that it was fate she met Daniel.
The lyrics of the song portray the difference between Ti Moune and the other peasants including Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian. In the song, Ti Moune sings “Happy to have what they have and to stay where they are. They never even look up at the sound of the car.” This relates to two aspects of the book. First, it relates to the idea that the peasants are happy and they do not wish for more, while Ti Moune is often dreaming of a different life. She seems to consistently ask herself and others: ‘Why do things have to be the way they are?’ and ‘Why can’t things change?’ The second aspect is that the other peasants do not look up to the sound of the car. The peasants are busy and are stuck in the way things are. Meanwhile Ti Moune is intrigued by new experiences and is using her imagination to explore her surroundings. This is similar to the plot in the book where she is the first, and only peasant for some time, to find the car crash. In the novel she wonders “How, with so terrible a crash, did no one hear? Where were those who always knew of or heard of, or sensed tragedy even before tragedy presented itself? Where were they all?” (30). At this time in the book, she is standing along side car crash alone. In both the song and the novel, Ti Moune is the only character to notice the car crash, which shows her as a different peasant from the others. In both versions, this difference is extremely important to the plot because it develops Ti Moune as a distinct character from the ensemble of other peasants.
Another similarity between the novel and the musical is Ti Moune’s desire to fly free. In the novel “a papillon lit on one of the curling leaves.” Ti Moune reaches toward it and places in an imaginary cage. When she brings the butterfly closer to the cage and “[opens] her hand to release it. When she opened her eyes the butterfly had disappeared.” The butterfly signifies freedom to Ti Moune. Ti Moune feels stuck as a peasant and often wishes to fly away. A butterfly can fly wherever it wants and it is not bound anywhere. Ti Moune desires this freedom. In the song she sings “How it must feel to go racing wherever you please, flying as free a bird with his tail in the breeze.” This differs slightly from the novel because she refers to a bird instead of a butterfly, but it still displays the same idea: freedom. This is an important idea because it is involved in many of Ti Moune’s decisions regarding her life. Overall, freedom is an important theme throughout both the play and the novel.
A third way the song “Waiting for Life to Begin” from the musical adaptation relates to the novel version is the idea of fate. Ti Moune feels this powerful love for Daniel instantaneously and believes it was fate the car crash. Following the crash she does everything to save Daniel’s life. She thinks it is fate she found the car that crashed and she has responsibility to take care of him. In the novel she talks to Daniel’s unconscious body. She says “I’ll protect you. I’ll do battle, if battle need be done- with the gods, even with my own Agwe, to keep you alive.” This shows her commitment to Daniel. In addition, she has not talked to Daniel yet and already feels a strong connection. Ti Moune feels love at first sight for Daniel, which is portrayed in the song: “Your car will stop and in I’ll hop and off we’ll drive.” She is referring to a stranger’s car in the song and has not yet met Daniel. She has not met him and yet she is in love with a stranger, which is similar to the book. The song also suggests that the car will come, proposing that Daniel is her fate. To conclude, the song accurately represents Ti Moune’s fate to meet Daniel and her love at first sight.
In summary, the novel and the musical share many similarities including Ti Moune’s distinctiveness, freedom, and Ti Moune and Daniel’s fate to meet and to fall in love.
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