Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Before We Were Free, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age and Political Consciousness
Adulthood, Childhood, and Fear
Family and Politics
Storytelling and Trauma
Summary
Analysis
It’s a muggy November afternoon in the Dominican Republic. Anita’s teacher at the American School, Mrs. Brown, asks for volunteers to play the Indians in the Thanksgiving skit. When Anita’s cousin Carla raises her hand, Mrs. Brown calls on Carla and Anita. Anita is disappointed; Dominican students always get the worst parts. Mrs. Brown tells Anita to welcome the pilgrims, her classmates Joey Farland and Charlie Price, to the United States. When Oscar Mancini asks why they welcome the pilgrims to the United States when the United States didn’t exist back then, Mrs. Brown cites poetic license.
Given that Anita attends an American school, many of her peers aren’t Dominican like she is—they’re often international, and many of them are American. Immediately, in the book’s opening, Anita calls attention to the racism in this dynamic; Dominican students get the worst theatrical roles, presumably because white foreigners are favored. Oscar’s question, meanwhile, suggests that some kids in Anita’s class are already learning to think critically about this. It’s entirely valid to wonder why they would mention the United States in a play about a time before the United States existed, but Mrs. Brown’s answer is evasive. By suggesting that the United States already existed when the pilgrims arrived, Mrs. Brown sidesteps a major political and moral issue: that the pilgrims created the United States with land they stole from the indigenous people who welcomed them.
Themes
The classroom door opens, interrupting the rehearsal. It’s the principal and Tía Laura, Carla’s mother. Tía Laura looks worried, but this isn’t unusual—what is unusual is that, these days, even Anita’s Papi looks worried. Mrs. Brown steps outside then returns and asks Anita to help Carla pack her things—even the things that usually remain at school, like Carla’s eraser in the shape of the Dominican Republic. Anita can’t figure out why she doesn’t have to pack too, since she and Carla are cousins. Oscar’s hand waves, but Mrs. Brown ignores it. She leads Anita and Carla out of the classroom. Anita stares at the portrait of their benefactor, El Jefe, and vows to be brave and strong like him.
Though Anita might not voice as many of her questions as Oscar does, she still has a lot of good ones. It’s perfectly reasonable, for instance, to wonder why she doesn’t have to pack up like Carla. Importantly, Anita asks this question because she and Carla are cousins. They’re family and, in Anita’s mind, they’re close enough to be treated the same. When Anita promises the portrait of El Jefe to be strong, it illustrates how the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic is normal for children. Anita believes that El Jefe is brave and strong because that’s what she’s been told to believe.
Themes
Squeezed in the backseat between Carla and Carla’s little sisters, Sandi and Yo, Anita asks if something is wrong. Papi, who’s driving, calls her cotorrita (“little parrot”), a reminder to not talk so much. He explains that the Garcías got permission to leave the country for the United States in a few hours. The girls say nothing when Papi reminds them of all the family members they’ll get to see. Family members have been leaving the country for New York since June—and now, Anita’s family will be the only ones left in the compound. Papi explains that they’re staying because he needs to mind the store.
The news that Anita’s family members have been leaving the Dominican Republic for the last few months suggests that all is not well in the country. It’s telling that Papi says the Garcías “got permission” to leave—this implies that it might not have been easy to arrange their departure for one reason or another, and that Anita’s family themselves are not free to leave if they want to. When Papi says that his branch of the family will be staying, he essentially tells Anita that the family business is more important than keeping the extended family together.
Themes
Anita’s older siblings, Lucinda and Mundín, are already home. They stand with Mami and Chucha, the nanny, who holds Carla’s baby sister Fifi. Once the car stops, Anita races for Mami. She notices Mr. Washburn, the American consul. He cheerily asks if everyone is ready to go. Yo asks where her father is, but after an uneasy silence, Papi explains that Tío Carlos will meet them at the airport. Anita thinks this is rude. Tía Laura sends everyone to change and choose a special item to bring. Anita follows Carla and suggests she take her jewelry box, but when she gets up to fetch it off the shelf, she shakes a snow globe. Yo cries that she wants to take the snow globe. Carla declares this a stupid decision and the girls yell at each other.
It’s odd that Mr. Washburn will presumably be the one taking the Garcías to the airport. Since there’s no indication that Mr. Washburn is their friend, it’s possible that the Garcías need help from the United States government to leave the country. It’s quite clear that something is wrong here. The adults seem far too cagey about why Tío Carlos isn’t here, while it’s hard to tell if Mr. Washburn’s cheerfulness is real or a front. The hurriedness of the situation gives the impression that bad things might happen if the Garcías don’t leave immediately.
Themes
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Yo and Carla stop yelling when Tía Laura threatens to go to New York alone. The girls change into party dresses and head outside, where Mr. Washburn is waiting in his car. But when Yo says she doesn’t want to go, all four García girls burst into tears. Tía Laura cries too, but Mami crouches to talk to the girls. She promises that they’ll see each other soon, which surprises Anita. Anita thinks this means that the Garcías are just taking a short trip, but she also wonders if Mami is lying. Anita hugs all her cousins and cries—there’s no portrait of El Jefe to make her feel brave out on the porch.
Anita starts to demonstrate her maturity here when she stays silent instead of questioning what Mami says to the García girls—it seems that she senses that Mami knows something important and that this might be the reason that Mami is saying something that doesn’t ring true. The questions that Anita has (but doesn’t voice) indicate that she’s perceptive and curious, even in difficult and confusing situations. As she wonders if Mami is lying, Anita has to consider what a person can or should do to help their families. Mami may be choosing to give the García girls false hope if it means that Tía Laura is able to get them to go.
Themes
Anita muses that now she’s part of what Mrs. Brown calls a nuclear family. The compound used to be teeming with aunts and uncles and cousins, but now the houses are empty. After a while, Anita goes to help Chucha move into the family house. Chucha has cared for every family member since Papi was born. First, they move her coffin, which she sleeps in every night. Then, they move Chucha’s clothes, all of which are purple. Chucha is Haitian and can see the future in her dreams. She saw that the García girls would leave weeks ago. Once Chucha is moved in, Anita asks when she’ll see the Garcías next. Chucha answers with a riddle: Anita “will see them before they come back but only after [she is] free.”
Though Chucha works for the family, Anita seems to have a relationship with her that’s more familial than anything else. Chucha’s eccentricities provide some comic relief—but the way that Anita talks about Chucha sleeping in a coffin also shows that children can get used to anything if it’s presented to them as normal. In this case, this isn’t a bad thing; it just makes Anita more accepting of Chucha. Indeed, Chucha plays an important role in Anita’s life, given that she can see the future and keep Anita occupied with riddles. The riddle that Chucha tells here shows that either she really can see the future, or she’s just perceptive enough to know the family’s likely fate. When she says that Anita will see her cousins “before they come back,” she means that when Anita and her cousins are reunited, the cousins will not yet have returned to the Dominican Republic—implying that Anita might see them next in New York. And it’s not totally clear yet what Chucha means when she says that Anita will see them only after she is free—that’s the story that the novel will tell.
Themes
Over supper, Papi explains that the store isn’t doing well and that the family will be scattered for a while. When Anita asks how long, Mami gives her a stern look. A black moth flies into the room, frightening Lucinda—she thinks it’s a bat. Mundín, however, says it’s a black butterfly. According to Chucha, black moths are death omens, so the family stops and watches it fly away. Everyone is shaky and sad after this. Anita is thrilled when Papi compliments her maturity, but she’s secretly just as sad as Lucinda. After supper, Anita pours the contents of Carla’s schoolbag onto her bed. It makes her sad, so she packs the supplies back up and vows not to use them. But later, Anita discovers the eraser in the shape of the Dominican Republic hiding in her sheets.
Finding the Dominican Republic eraser in her sheets is a clue that the political situation of Anita’s country is more connected to her daily life than she might think. The black butterfly, meanwhile, implies that the hope and freedom that butterflies symbolize might come at a price—death, according to Chucha. When the family takes Chucha’s spirituality seriously, it speaks to how integrated Chucha is into the family. Her beliefs are, in many ways, the family’s beliefs.
Themes
