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
Anita begs to stay home until Lucinda leaves, but Mami reminds her that they have to act normal. Anita and Lucinda hug and sob. On the way to school, everything feels wrong. When Anita sees police stopping a car, she slips her crucifix necklace into her mouth. She does this now when she needs good luck. Papi drives slowly and Anita worries that she’ll say or do something that will hurt her family. She prays that Lorena won’t tell anyone about her erased diary. When they stop to drop Mundín off, Mundín offers to take Anita for a ride in Tío Toni’s hot rod later. Anita is too struck by his kindness to answer, but Sam (who is riding with them) says he’d like to go. Sam is thrilled that Susie is leaving, which makes Anita even sadder. She realizes she and Sam have never felt the same way about anything.
Anita is now almost fully aware of the seriousness of her family’s situation, and instead of making her feel proud grown up, it makes her feel afraid. The sense of responsibility that Anita now has—her awareness that her actions could put the family in serious danger—shows that she’s shouldering more of the family’s burden and accepting a more adult role. This means losing interest in some of the things that gave her pleasure just weeks before; she can’t imagine enjoying a ride in a hot rod in a time like this, and—more important—the differences between her maturity and Sam’s obvious innocence make her no longer feel in love with him. This is a sad discovery for Anita, because it shows her how much has changed.
Themes
Mrs. Brown has bad news: the American School will close for a while. To Anita, this means she’ll lose her last normal thing. She’s so sad that she puts her head down on her desk and can’t tell Mrs. Brown if she’s ill. Anita allows Mrs. Brown to lead her to the nurse. On the way out of the classroom, she sees Charlie Price make a circle in the air and Sam grin at Charlie. Anita wants to scream that she’s not crazy. When she swallows her scream, her mind seems to go quiet. A bit later, Mami arrives at school. Anita wants to tell Mami the truth about her period and everything else, but she can’t remember the words.
Charlie and Sam make fun of Anita because they don’t understand the pressure she’s under right now. They’re American, not Dominican, so their families’ lives are not currently on the line. This is another example (like the Secret Santa controversy) of Americans misunderstanding and trivializing Dominican suffering—throughout the novel, American characters often rush to judgment, rather than trying to understand the experiences of the Dominicans around them. When Anita forgets how to speak, it’s possible to read her silence as a normal reaction to a traumatic situation. She doesn’t have the maturity or the coping skills to function normally anymore—and for that matter, silence currently seems like the safest option, since words are such a liability.
Themes
Anita stays in bed all day. Chucha brings her tea, while Mundín offers to take her for a ride. He bites his nails and Anita empathizes—she realizes that while Mundín bites and Lucinda breaks out in a rash, she forgets her words. Since she forgets simple words, Anita wonders if she’s going crazy. When Papi gets home from work, he sits with Anita, smiles, and says that one day, Anita will look back and think she was strong and brave. He seems to know that Anita is thinking she’s not strong or brave, so he assures Anita she is. He tells her to be free and fly. This is scary, since Papi sounds like Chucha. Mami pokes her head in and suggests Anita has mumps, but Papi says that’s not what’s wrong.
Here, Anita has the presence of mind to realize that her loss of words is just like her sister’s rash and her brother’s nail-biting. It’s not necessarily that something is wrong with them; it’s just a reaction to stress. Anita’s father sees this even more clearly than she does, and he tries to offer comfort—not by telling her falsely that everything will be okay, but by reassuring her that she is inherently strong. He seems to know that she will need to draw on her courage and strength to get through what lies ahead, but he’s also confident that she’ll one day be free.
Themes
Men begin to meet every night on the patio, right outside Anita’s window. She listens to them speak in code. Papi, Tío Toni, Mr. Washburn, and Wimpy are almost always there. Mr. Mancini doesn’t come anymore because he can provide a safe house, and though Anita doesn’t know what this means, she thinks it’s related to why she now goes to the Mancinis’ house for lessons. Anita and Mundín ride with Sam in the consulate car, since it’s safer. There are now lots of checkpoints and curfews. One morning, lots of people on the street are wearing black. Mundín explains that it’s a silent protest. At night, Anita also hears the men talk about a pill that will allow them to commit suicide if the SIM captures them. Anita checks Papi’s pockets for pills when she does laundry and vows to keep one pill for herself if she finds one.
While Anita has grown tremendously more mature and knowledgeable about the situation in her country, this is a situation that she doesn’t quite understand, which suggests just how scary and dangerous it is. The few facts she does glean makes this even more worrying; presumably, her father and Tío Toni would only want suicide pills if they thought that being captured by the SIM would be a fate worse than death. Anita is searching her father’s pockets for pills in part because she doesn’t want him to die, and in part because she wants to protect herself; she has come to understand that this situation is incredibly dangerous, and even at twelve, she is thinking about ways to avoid being tortured and murdered.
Themes
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One night, Anita hears Tío Toni say that this has got to stop. They’ve been waiting for a delivery of “ingredients for the picnic” for weeks and they sound desperate. Toni insists that the Americans are playing with them, but Papi reminds Toni that Mr. Washburn saved Lucinda. The men agree that Mr. Washburn is “on his way out.” Anita figures this means the Washburns will leave soon. Mami opens Anita’s door and asks if she’s still awake. Anita turns on her ugly monkey lamp, which she inherited from Carla. Pleadingly, Mami asks Anita if she’d like a different lamp. She says Anita is too quiet and sad and says she has bad news. Anita squeaks out that the Washburns are leaving. Mami starts to cry that they’ve made Anita grow up too fast. She laments that Anita hasn’t had a childhood, but Anita thinks her childhood is over anyway.
Even as Anita doesn’t understand all of what’s going on, she’s still developing critical thinking skills as she tries to piece things together. And clearly, Anita is doing better at this than her parents thought; Mami seems shocked that Anita already knew about the Washburns’ departure. For Mami, it’s heartbreaking to see her daughter so silent and withdrawn. It likely makes her feel like she’s failing to protect Anita, but Mami is walking a fine line; she has to make Anita aware of what’s going on to some degree so that Anita knows how to keep herself and the family safe. As Anita suggests, this seems incompatible with allowing Anita to remain an innocent child.
Themes
Outside, Anita hears Mr. Washburn and Wimpy arrive. They discuss how they won’t get any more picnic ingredients and Mr. Washburn says he’ll bring what he has in a few days. Mami looks horrified and calls out the window that Anita can hear what the men are saying. Papi peers in and says, “No wonder.” After this, the men meet at Tío Toni’s house. It’s inconvenient, since the radio in Papi’s study is tuned to Radio Swan. According to Oscar, Swan is a new station that broadcasts reports by people who want to free the country. It’s illegal, but everyone tunes in.
Once Papi realizes how much Anita can hear, her silence starts to make more sense. He seems to recognize that she’s overwhelmed with everything she knows about the assassination plot. However, it’s also worth considering that part of Anita’s stress comes from all the things she doesn’t know. While her parents are well within their rights to protect her, a lot of Anita’s stress has to do with her uncertainty about what’s going on and whether they will be okay.
Themes
Mami keeps Anita close. With only Chucha left in the household, Mami has a perfect excuse: she needs Anita to take on small tasks, like serving for the canasta group. One afternoon during the canasta game, Mrs. Washburn calls Anita over, puts her arms around Anita, and asks if she’s going to miss Sam. She and Sam are going back to Washington soon, even though Mr. Washburn is remaining longer. Mrs. Washburn asks Anita if she’s going to come visit. Anita stays silent and shakes her head. Mami scolds her, but Mrs. Washburn brushes Mami away. She hugs Anita again. Anita wonders if Mrs. Washburn knows that she now has breasts that hurt when she’s squeezed like this.
It’s an ominous sign that the Washburn family is returning to Washington without Mr. Washburn—previously, Mrs. Washburn dismissed that possibility, since she felt safe in the Dominican Republic as an American. Of course, if Trujillo discovered Mr. Washburn’s involvement in the assassination plot, diplomatic immunity would not protect him and his family. This all suggests that things are getting more dangerous. To Anita, it once again seems like Mrs. Washburn is treating her like a small child, when in reality, she is quickly becoming a teenager. It’s also frustrating to her that she can’t explain to Mrs. Washburn what she’s thinking in this moment—but there’s no way to safely or politely explain the gulf that has developed between her and Sam.
Themes
These days, Sam comes over to hang out with Mundín and work on Tío Toni’s hot rod. Anita knows for sure that she doesn’t love Sam. Sometimes, Anita sees the boys working on the car and Mami playing canasta and things seem normal. She comes up with things to say—but suddenly, she forgets her words and remembers she’s not safe. One morning, Mr. Washburn drives Anita, Sam, and Mundín to the Mancinis’ house for class. Traffic is bad and Mr. Washburn slams on the brakes. The car behind rams into the consulate car and the trunk flies open. Mr. Washburn rushes out and two policemen come over to help. Sam, Mundín, and Anita get out too.
Anita has become so consumed by her family and country’s predicament that she no longer has anything at all in common with Sam. While there are times when things feel almost normal, Anita does not feel capable of relaxing—if she relaxes, she worries that she’ll say too much and endanger everyone. That fear has taken nearly all the joy out of her life, from her crush on Sam to her enjoyment of school. The policemen coming over to help after the accident is scary—Anita has learned that policemen in the Dominican Republic aren’t really there to help, but rather to support the Trujillo regime.
Themes
Mr. Washburn tells the driver who rear-ended him that it’s no problem as he tries to close the trunk. One of the policemen offers to try to fix the trunk, but Mr. Washburn insists he just needs some rope. The other policeman heads back to his post while the first insists on helping Mr. Washburn. He opens the trunk as the other driver gets back with rope. Everyone’s eyes go wide. The “ingredients for the picnic”—guns—are spilling out of bags. The policeman reaches for the rope, secures the trunk, and tells Mr. Washburn to get it fixed. Mr. Washburn’s hands are shaking as he gets back into the car. Anita puts her crucifix in her mouth but can’t come up with a prayer of thanks.
Seeing the policeman and the other driver say nothing about the guns is terrifying—but it also shows Anita that there are many people in the country who want exactly what Papi wants. In other words, this helps Anita realize that her family isn’t operating in isolation; the resistance movement is made up of all sorts of people all over the country, including people like police offers who appear to be working for Trujillo. This shows just how far-reaching the country’s instability has become, and it also further complicates Anita’s sense of her country. She once thought that the government was good, then she realized the government was bad, and now she realizes that the government is made up of a lot of people, some of whom are genuinely evil while others are not.
Themes
