Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Clap When You Land, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family
Secrets
Grief
Money, Security, and Immigration
Growing Up and Sexual Violence
Summary
Analysis
Camino knows too much about mud. She knows that streets without sidewalks flood when the water rises—and at those times, learning about mud is “learning the language of survival.” Camino knows how Tía will snap a dishrag at her if she happens to track mud inside. She knows how mud dries and clings to everything, or slurps at “the high heels / of the working girls” she used to go to school with. Tía always warns Camino not to let the mud “stain” her, but Camino knows the truth: “To be from this barrio is to be made of this earth and clay.” People say this is an awful place to live, “the soil beneath a country’s nail.” Camino loves her home, but she longs to live somewhere stable, not in “quicksand” or a sinkhole.
Camino lives in the Dominican Republic, an island nation in the Caribbean. She makes it clear that living there is a matter of survival as she describes how the mud insidiously works its way into everything, dirtying people and homes and “stain[ing]” things. Tía’s warning to not let the mud “stain” Camino suggests that both Camino and Tía dream that Camino will one day be able to leave the Dominican Republic for someplace better, especially since Camino seems to view her home country as a place that's trying to trap and swallow her.
Themes
Camino wakes up at five in the morning so she can accompany Tía Solana to visit a woman with stomach cancer. Camino has been going with Tía since she was a toddler, even when Mamá was alive. This is in part because Camino and Tía have an understanding: Tía doesn’t make silly rules, so Camino doesn’t feel the need to rebel. They gather breakfast, lock up the house, and find the neighborhood stray, Vira Lata, waiting for them at the gate. Vira Lata might be a stray, but he’s attached himself to Camino. He follows them to the woman with cancer’s house.
Immediately, it becomes clear that Camino and Tía have a close, loving, and trusting relationship. They work well together and, over the years, have come to see each other more as equals than as authority figure and child. This passage also highlights that Camino admires her aunt, since she’s been accompanying Tía on rounds even when her biological mother was still alive.
Themes
There, despite the door not having a lock, Tía knocks before entering. Camino doesn’t make a face at the smell of the woman’s unwashed body. Instead, she murmurs a greeting to the woman, who only moans in pain. The woman calms when Camino touches her forehead; her forehead is cool, which is good. Camino helps her drink and then gently touches her abdomen, which is hard to the touch. Tía lights incense. In moments like this, it’s easy to want to say that there’s nothing to be done. But Camino learned long ago that you don’t speak of dying people as though they’re already dead—this denies them their dignity and gets rid of any chance for a miracle. So, Camino merely chants prayers with Tía and hopes for a miracle.
What shines through in this passage is that Tía has taught Camino the importance of treating ill and dying people with dignity and respect. It’s essential to respect this woman’s privacy, even if her home doesn’t lock; and it’s necessary to act as though her smell isn’t a bother, even if it’s actually overwhelming. Tía and Camino’s spirituality is also apparent, as Tía seems to engage in some sort of ritual as she and Camino pray for the women’s improved health. This shows that Camino has faith to fall back on when things get difficult.
Themes
Camino admires Tía above everyone else. She’s seen “death & illness & hurt,” but still, she knows how to smile and joke. After all these years watching Tía, Camino knows exactly what she’s getting into when she says she wants to be a doctor. The best schools are in the United States. Camino hopes to take what she already knows and, after med school, be able to help others. Sometimes, Papi’s check comes late and Tía and Camino worry about whether they’ll have enough food. Camino doesn’t want to have to live like that forever. She’s going to make it so she and Tía can have a better life.
The biggest gift that Tía has given Camino is the inspiration to pursue medicine and be able to help people. Camino wants to pursue medicine because she wants to help her community, but it's also clear that her concerns are personal: she’d like a doctor’s salary so that she and Tía don’t have to worry about money. The women rely on Papi, it seems, but this doesn’t always work for them since Papi isn’t always reliable. Already, Camino feels like she has to take things into her own hands.
Themes
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The Day. Camino is learning that life-changing news is like a baby born too early: it’s not timed right; it catches people unaware and unprepared, and the person usually isn’t where they’re supposed to be.
Camino could’ve likened learning life-changing news to anything, so it’s telling that she chooses to compare it to a premature birth—this highlights her commitment to medicine and to obstetrics specifically. This passage also foreshadows that something awful is about to happen and catch Camino unaware.
Themes
Camino is missing a math test so she can wait for Papi at the airport; she doesn’t care if he’s going to be angry. He reminds her regularly that he pays too much for her school for her to do things like this, but Camino always makes the honor roll. She knows that secretly, Papi will be happy—he “loves to be loved.” As usual, he’s flying in the first weekend of June. Tía and Camino have been cooking for days. Camino thinks of the food as she begs Don Mateo to give her a ride to the airport. He grumbles but drops her off at the terminal. But when Camino gets there, she doesn’t see Papi’s flight number on the screen—just a crowd of people around a TV.
Papi’s checks might be unreliable, but his yearly visit to the Dominican Republic is something Camino knows for sure that she can rely on. As she describes how important it is to her and Papi that she greet him at the airport, Camino highlights how essential it is to show up for the people she loves. This is also why Camino and Tía have been cooking: they want to be able to properly welcome Papi home. However, the crowd of people around the TV suggests that something has happened to Papi’s plane and, perhaps, Camino won’t be welcoming Papi this year.
Themes
Tía believes that the Saints will try to warn you if bad news is coming. They’ll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and send ice down your spine. Tía believes that if you hold still and pray hard, sometimes the Saints will change things. Don Mateo’s car’s air conditioning was broken, so Camino is hot and sweaty. But suddenly, she becomes chilled and her hands tremble. Several airport employees approach the crowd and someone says “accident.” The floor seems to open up into a mouth with sharp teeth, and Camino feels like it’s swallowing her.
Note that Camino is telling readers what Tía thinks about the Saints, not necessarily what she thinks—this leaves room for Camino’s beliefs to differ from Tía’s. Still, Camino can’t ignore that she experiences what sure seems like a divine warning as she enters the airport and learns, presumably, that something happened to Papi. She conveys how earth-shattering this is for her by describing the ground opening up and swallowing her like a dangerous animal. What was once trustworthy and standard suddenly becomes scary and unknowable.
Themes
Camino explains that Papi wasn’t here on the day she was born. Mamá held Tía Solana’s hand when she was “dando a luz,” or in labor. (Camino loves this phrase, which means “giving to light.”) Camino knows that she was Mamá’s gift to Papi, the “sun of her life,” as Mamá revolved around Papi and waited for his yearly visits. But when Camino was born, Papi stayed in New York City. He wired money and a note asking Mamá to call the baby Camino. That birthday was the only one Papi ever missed. But now, he’ll miss this one too, as his plane has fallen from the sky.
By describing Papi’s first (and so far, only) birthday absence, the narrative creates tension: readers are left wondering what happened. It’s not until the end of this poem that Camino reveals that his plane crashed. By describing Papi as a sun around which she and Mamá revolved, Camino shows that Papi was the guiding light in her life. Now, the very thing that gave her life and meaning is gone.
Themes
It’s always been better to accept Papi’s affection when he gives it rather than mention how often he’s absent. Camino has wanted to go live with Papi in New York since Mamá died; she feels as though Papi’s stories of the city are almost her own memories. This fall, Camino is supposed to start her senior year at the International School. She’ll then apply to Columbia University. But last year, when Camino told Papi about her dreams of attending Columbia, he laughed. He said she should be a doctor here, and he said he didn’t want to spend more money on another “fancy school.” But though Papi seemed to realize he hurt Camino’s feelings, he didn’t apologize.
Camino clearly loves her father, but this doesn’t mean that he was always the easiest person to love—indeed, Camino implies that Papi loved her on his terms and often refused to change his behavior based on what Camino wanted from him. For now, it’s not entirely clear why Papi didn’t want Camino to come with him to New York or support her dreams of becoming a doctor. What’s important to Camino is that he didn’t fully support her, and that seriously hurt her feelings.
Themes
Camino is sure this is all a mistake. The plane couldn’t have crashed. If it did, obviously Papi wouldn’t have been on it—Tía’s saints would’ve warned him. Camino thinks this as she walks the four miles home. She’s not willing to call Don Mateo to come get her, though she knows he would. Camino thinks through all sorts of scenarios where Papi lives and everyone else on the plane dies, all while ignoring news alerts on her phone. When she gets to her neighborhood, she greets Vira Lata. It’s not true that Papi was on that plane.
At the moment, Camino is in denial: it’s too painful for her to accept that Papi might be dead. Denying the truth, or feeling numb, is often the first stage people go through when they begin to grieve—and so, this scene marks the beginning of Camino’s process of working through her grief and saying goodbye to Papi.
Themes
Every year, Papi boards the same flight, and Camino and Tía wait for him and his stories of disgruntled airline passengers. Last year, Papi got Camino a tablet for her birthday, and they video chatted before he got on his flight this morning. So far, “They” are saying it’s too early to know if there were any survivors. But because Camino is so used to Papi’s absence, it doesn’t feel like death yet—just a delay. Tía has heard the news when Camino gets home. She holds Camino and rocks, but Camino doesn’t join in—Tía suggests Camino is in shock. Camino sits on the porch until Tía goes to bed, and then she approaches the altar to the ancestors. She grabs a cigar off the altar, lights it, and smokes and coughs. Then she sits on the porch until morning, waiting to hear Papi’s voice but knowing she never will.
Camino is struggling to accept that Papi is dead because everything else about his trip today was so normal: they chatted earlier, and he always takes the same flight and arrives just fine. Further, there’s the tantalizing possibility that there were survivors, so she doesn’t have to accept that Papi’s gone until rescue crews can make a definitive call. The fact that Papi has been physically absent for so much of Camino’s life further complicates her ability to accept Papi’s death. Practically speaking, it doesn’t feel all that different to her now that he’s deceased.
Themes
