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
When Papi taught Yahaira to play chess, he taught her that every piece got its own space and had to move in a certain way. Each piece had a specific purpose, and nothing overlapped—the only time two pieces can be in the same square is when one piece is taking the other off the board. Now, Yahaira knows Papi was like a chess piece. He couldn’t move between his two families. He was Yahaira’s when he was in New York and Camino’s when he was in the Dominican Republic. It makes sense now why Yahaira never heard from him when he was gone: his inability to combine his lives is why Camino had to confirm Yahaira is also Papi’s daughter. Papi always said that everything has a purpose—but why did he keep this huge secret?
In this situation, chess does allow Yahaira to make some sense of the situation. Likening Papi to a chess piece helps explain why Papi was so totally gone when he was in the Dominican Republic, so Yahaira gets some sense now of why Papi never returned her calls or emails. However, the big mystery is still why Papi thought it was so important to keep this secret in the first place. Importantly, this is a question nobody can answer, now that Papi is dead—but it also suggests that Papi’s choice to keep the secret may have been for naught. Indeed, it seems to have caused a great deal of harm.
Themes
Thirty-Six Days After. Yahaira and Mami eat (or pretend to eat) in front of the TV and have since Papi died. Mami hasn’t worn makeup in weeks. There’s nothing to distract Yahaira from the silence. She’s surprised, though, when Mami mutes the TV to say that they need to make plans for Yahaira’s future, since they’re the only family they have now.
Mami is ready to move forward and start thinking about the future—but specifically Yahaira’s future. It’s perhaps too painful for her to think about where she goes or what she does next, so she channels her energy into making sure Yahaira is taken care of.
Themes
Mami doesn’t want to fight Papi’s will, so once Papi’s remains are released, they’ll be buried in the Dominican Republic. Mami refuses to talk about it. But after Mami goes to bed, Yahaira starts researching what traveling would cost. Money opens lots of doors, and Papi got Yahaira a passport years ago when it seemed like she’d be competing in chess competitions abroad. Yahaira uses Mami’s credit card to buy her ticket and checks the bank account first to make sure they have enough money. Yahaira isn’t sure she has the courage to go through with this, but she knows she needs to be there for Papi’s funeral—and meet Camino.
Yahaira realizes how lucky she is to have access to a lot of money—and to have a passport that makes international travel on short notice possible. This is a mark of how privileged she is, particularly compared to Camino. Yahaira’s choice to defy Mami and go to the Dominican Republic for Papi’s funeral suggests that she’s ready to grieve with other people who will all be feeling the same things she is—most notably, Camino. She’s still staying quiet and keeping secrets, but she has a plan to stop doing so when she leaves the country.
Themes
Yahaira isn’t sure why she wants to meet Camino. It could be that it’s just so shocking to suddenly learn she has a sister. It could also be that Yahaira feels like Camino is a “piece / of Papi,” that will be able to answer the questions Papi never answered. How have Camino and Yahaira gone all these years not knowing about each other? Nothing has made sense since Papi died, but Yahaira is certain that she has to go to the Dominican Republic to find answers.
Tía would probably say that the Saints are the ones guiding Yahaira toward the Dominican Republic for her answers. Indeed, going there will help Yahaira figure out who Papi was, while also giving her an opportunity to figure out how her Dominican identity works in practice. She noted earlier that she’s not sure how Dominican she can be without ever having been there—so this will be an important identity-forming step for her.
Themes
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Thirty-Seven Days After. Mami hasn’t said anything about Camino’s message, and Yahaira hasn’t offered anything. Yahaira tells Dre about her sister, and Dre is shocked Papi “had it in him.” But then, she suggests that it’s better that Yahaira didn’t know. Yahaira wonders privately how she can lose someone, and then “gain a part of them back / in someone entirely new.” Yahaira says she needs to go meet Camino, and Dre immediately says that’s the right thing to do. This isn’t comforting. How is it so easy to identify the right thing when everything is so confusing?
It's a mark of how well Papi played his role in New York that Dre is shocked Papi could father a child with another woman. As Dre sees it, it may have been better for Yahaira to grow up in the dark, as it allowed her to idolize Papi and have a close relationship with him. Of course, there’s no way to know how things might’ve gone had Papi been open about his other wife and daughter. Yahaira picks up on this tension when she notes that it feels impossible to pick out the right thing in such a muddy, confusing situation.
Themes
