Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in America Is in the Heart, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Beauty in Despair
Race and American Identity
Education vs. Ignorance
Poverty
Summary
Analysis
Shortly after the fall of Battan, a small publisher contacts Carlos and wants to publish an edition of his poetry. The resulting book, Letters from America, is a testament to Carlos’s “hopes, desires, [and] aspirations.” He then searches for Amado to show him the book and finds him drinking beer with two girls, who are unimpressed by Carlos’s poetry. One girl tears pages from the book, and Amado punches her. A few days later, Amado announces that he is joining the Navy. He and Carlos share a difficult goodbye, then Amado gives Carlos a letter in which he declares: “My lostness in America will give you a reason to work harder for your ideals.”
The arrival of his first published book gives Carlos something to hold onto even amid the uncertainty of war. This moment represents Carlos’s final contact with Amado in the novel. Well aware that he will never fully redeem himself in America, Amado urges Carlos to achieve the life that Amado himself could never have, again highlighting how the brothers’ fortunes are intertwined.
Themes
Carlos’s other friends and even Macario join the armed forces, and they share a series of goodbyes. “I knew it was the end of our lives in America,” Carlos writes. He walks towards his hotel, and in his room Macario has left an envelope with $200, a Social Security card, and a photograph of himself. Carlos takes ten cents and uses it to repay a shoe shiner who once loaned Macario money. Carlos has a beer with the shoe shiner, who also plans to join the Navy. “I know I'll meet your brother again somewhere, because I got my dime without asking him,” the shoe shiner states. Carlos then goes back to his hotel.
Macario’s parting gift to his brother symbolizes the generosity with which he has treated Carlos throughout his life. The presence of the Social Security card also links Carlos to his future in America, and the money allows him to make a new start as a writer in the land that gave him the opportunity to educate himself. The shoe shiner’s recognition of Macario’s kindness also hints that Macario and Carlos may yet meet gain in the future.
Themes
