[3] Dézafi (which means 'cock fight' in Haitian Creole) is set in Haiti and centers around a voodoo priest, Sintil, who is terrorizing the village of Bouanèf and enslaving residents by turning them into zonbis.

Unfortunately, once there he cannot earn enough money to make a stable living and languishes on the streets for years before attempting to return to Bouanèf just as the revolution is taking place.

Jédéyon has been abandoned by his wife and family who left for the United States without him and he constantly berates and chastises Rita, who takes care of him and the house.

It follows a spiral-like structure, in which the narrative bends back to where it began with multiple repetitions and reiterations of points and details.

[2] The standard roman type is used predominantly for the plot and concrete experiences of the characters, but it accounts for less than half of the text of Dézafi.

The rest is written in either italics or bold and does not relate directly to the plotline of the book, but rather has a more poetic and abstract significance with regards to Haitian culture.

[5] Frankétienne was hinting that the Duvalier regime could be overturned through an uprising of the populace of Haiti, just as Sintil was only overthrown when the zonbis finally woke up and exacted their vengeance.

And as Sintil was only overthrown once the zonbis had their humanity restored, Frankétienne implies that an uprising can only take place once the people of Haiti awaken from their subservient stupor.

[5] Therefore, the general public of Haiti was not able to read Dézafi and Frankétienne's attempt to call the people to revolt against the Duvalier regime fell on deaf ears.

[3] Frankétienne was named an Artist for Peace by UNESCO in 2010[7] after he "predicted" the devastating 2010 Haitian earthquake with his 2009 play Melovivi or Le Piège.