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Chapter 4
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
In the present, without the nightlight that illuminates his bedroom at home, Luca has trouble remembering where he is when he awakens in his and Lydia’s pitch-black hotel room. He always calls out for his papi when he has a nightmare, and, after a second time with no answer, he tries to get Lydia’s attention. As he curls into Lydia’s body, the memory of the day’s events flood back, and he begins to scream and cry. After 15 minutes or so, Lydia gets out of bed, grabs a bottle of water, and makes Luca drink. She then turns on some English-language cartoons, orders room service, and takes a shower. Luca is too scared to enter the shower alone, so Lydia cleans him off with a soapy washcloth before wrapping his body in a warm, white towel.
Now that he and Lydia are not actively running from danger, Luca’s grief overwhelms him, and so he expresses some of his shock and sadness. But after this initial release, Luca is able to relax and watch some television. In this way, the reader begins to see how unpredictable grief can be: it comes and goes, often arising spontaneously and unexpectedly. The fact that Luca is afraid to enter the shower alone illustrates clearly that he is not yet “okay:” the shower is a terrifying and painful reminder of the trauma he experienced just yesterday, when he hid for his life in Abuela’s bathroom.
Active
Themes
Although Lydia is expecting room service, she is startled when she hears a knock on their door. When she opens it, Lydia can tell right away that the service delivery boy, Ikal, is not a sicario (“hitman”). He places the food on the desk, trying not to look at her since she is in her bathrobe. Then, as he is about to leave, he pulls out a small package, saying a delivery had arrived for them last night. Lydia knows that nobody knows where they are. She at first tells Ikal to get rid of the package but eventually chases him down the hall to take it back. When she gets back to the room, Luca is half-dressed and beginning to dive into the food. Lydia brings the parcel into the bathroom.
Unknown dangers potentially lie around every corner, and Lydia’s caution when opening the door for room service shows how tapped into her survival instincts is—Lydia trusts no one, not even the service delivery boy. Even though Lydia eventually determines that he is harmless, her fear and anxiety spike again when he hands her a package. Though the narration does not reveal the details of the package’s origin, the reader knows that the front desk clerk has already alerted someone to Lydia’s arrival, and so it would follow that this someone is also responsible for the package.
Active
Themes
Literary Devices
At that moment, Luca decides it is time to grow up; he will take care of his mother from now on. He tells her they should go to el norte (“the north”), and Lydia agrees, saying they will head to Denver, where she has an uncle (Tío Gustavo). In the bathroom, Lydia examines the package closely. Fear mounts inside of her. She carefully opens it and find an English-language copy of Love in the Time of Cholera, with a passage addressing the book’s heroine, Fermina Daza, highlighted. Lydia knows that the package is from Javier and chides herself for not acknowledging earlier how dangerous he was. Included is a note confirming his intent to kill them. Lydia realizes Javier knows where they are and hastens Luca to stop eating and get dressed. They open the door and, seeing that the hallway is empty, leave down the service stairs.
