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Chapter 2
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in American Dirt, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Trauma
Survival, Grief, and Resilience
Self-Determination, Uncertainty, and Chance
Motherhood
Forced Migration
Summary
Analysis
Fearful that a bomb is planted in the car, Lydia inspects her surroundings. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she inserts the key into the lock and turns it. Nothing happens. Confused and overwhelmed, she knows she must concentrate on the task she has set out to do. Out of the car, she removes a few items, including a pair of shoes, a tablet, one of Sebastián’s notebooks, and his red Yankees hat. When Luca comes next to her without her asking, she realizes the extent to which this horrific experience has already changed him—and at only eight years old: Luca senses her wishes without her having to verbalize them.
Lydia’s survival instincts are taking over, and though she is tempted to try and make sense of what is happening in the moment, she knows that her and Luca’s lives are in danger; Lydia has no time to sit and think and grieve—instead, she must act. Right away, Lydia can also see how the recent tragedy has affected Luca, and the fact that he senses her wishes before she expresses them reinforces his dependence on and attachment to his mother.
Active
Themes
Lydia and Luca begin walking and head in various directions. Luca is wearing the red Yankees hat and notes that it still carries his father’s scent. He and Lydia eventually board a bus. Once seated, Luca begins to tremble. He stops when his mother tells him it is not yet the time to cry. Knowing that bus drivers are notorious halcones (“cartel lookouts”), Lydia and Luca frequently change routes. During one stop, Lydia withdraws her life savings from a bank. During another, they go to Walmart to buy clothing and provisions, including a machete.
This passage illustrates Luca’s attachment to the red Yankees hat: it represents his father, and, by wearing it, he is keeping Sebastián close. As Lydia and Luca take great pains to stay anonymous, the reader can see how widespread the potential danger is—Lydia can trust no one, as the cartels have infiltrated all aspects of society. While on the bus, Luca’s grief surfaces, but they cannot let down their guard: their survival requires them to blend in and act like everything is normal. Based on the supplies they gather, the reader can intuit that Lydia and Luca are about to embark on a long and potentially risky journey.
Active
Themes
Lydia chooses a large hotel near the beach in Diamante to stay in. She pays for the room in cash and gives the name Fermina Daza at the front desk. While Lydia and Luca get settled in their room, the front desk clerk sneaks away and sends a text on a burner phone notifying an unnamed recipient of Lydia and Luca’s arrival.
