Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Farming of Bones, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Power of Memory
Dreams vs. Reality
Language and Identity
Death, Grief, and Hope
Home, Family, and Belonging
Summary
Analysis
Doctor Javier, a Dominican physician within the community, arrives at Señora Valencia’s house and examines the newborns. Señora Valencia tells the doctor that she is grateful that Amabelle knows how to birth children. Amabelle notes that Doctor Javier wears a “wooden carving of cane leaves” on a pin in his shirt. The carving is similar to those worn by “cane cutters.” The doctor asks Amabelle to go boil water so that the children can be bathed.
Doctor Javier is Dominican, and his patients are also high-class Dominican citizens. But still, he wears a brooch of cane leaves. Cane is a crop that is vital to Haitian workers’ livelihoods, as Haitians are often field laborers who oversee the harvest. The doctor’s brooch suggests his affinity for Haitian culture, despite his work with Dominican members of high society. The doctor subtly crosses the socially established borders between cultures, illustrating that identity can be flexible.
Themes
Amabelle fetches the water, and sees Juana, another member of the household staff. Amabelle recalls that Juana and her husband, Luis, have worked for the family for decades. When Amabelle returns with the water, Don Ignacio is in the room with Doctor Javier and Señora Valencia. Don Ignacio asks when the children were born; Amabelle does not know precisely. Don Ignacio writes down the time and place of the births in elaborate script, noting that they occurred in the “seventh year of the Era of Generalissimo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina.”
Don Ignacio, Señora Valencia’s father, reveals his fixation on identity and heritage when he notes the year of his grandchildren’s birth. He only uses the name of the Dominican Republic’s dictator, Trujillo, to classify the babies’ birthdays; he does not describe the date in any other way. By using cultural and societal information to frame his family’s existence, he suggests that his country’s cultural heritage is integral to his household.
Themes
Doctor Javier comments on Rosalinda’s dark skin tone, only to be chastised by Don Ignacio, who is the señora’s father. Don Ignacio points out that the baby’s coloring must come from her father; he then extols his own family’s Spanish heritage, claiming that the daughter can “trace her family to the Conquistadores, the line of El Almirante, Cristobal Colón.”
Doctor Javier’s comments echo the señora’s earlier discriminatory observations about her daughter: both characters’ words illustrate how culture can separate people due to prejudice. Don Ignacio then discusses his family’s genealogy in detail, emphasizing his noble heritage. Don Ignacio and the doctor’s comments demonstrate the outsized importance that Dominican society places on identity and lineage, labels that divide and separate groups.
Themes
Doctor Javier and Amabelle leave the new mother to rest, and the doctor gets something stuck in his hair. Amabelle reaches up to help remove it, but then remembers she “must always be on [her] guard” while she is “working for others.”
This brief thwarted moment between Amabelle and Doctor Javier illustrates a failed attempt at bridging cultures and boundaries. Amabelle, a domestic Haitian worker, initially wishes to help a higher class Dominican citizen, but quickly reminds herself that identity prevents the two from having a true moment of connection, however small.
Themes
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The doctor then strikes up a conversation about Señor Pico (Señora Valencia’s husband). He notes that the señor’s rank “changes” very frequently, and claims that the military men do not like him. He then tells Amabelle to look after the children and particularly urges her to keep an eye on Rosalinda, who is smaller. He insists the son, however, is healthy. Doctor Javier then tells Amabelle that she should go back to Haiti and become a midwife. Amabelle replies that she has not been back across the border since she was eight years old. The doctor tells her to consider the option, and leaves.
Doctor Javier’s willingness to cross cultural borders by talking frankly with Amabelle seems to make him an outlier in the Dominican Republic, which the novel has already established has tacit rules about societal conduct. Furthermore, the doctor’s suggestion prompts Amabelle to realize that Haiti is actually a foreign nation to her, as she has not returned for years; Amabelle’s idea of home has shifted without her realizing it.
Themes
Juana, a housemaid, comes into the room, and Amabelle informs her that the señora has given birth. Juana crosses herself, and considers it a “miracle” to have “twin babies in the house.” She rushes off to the señora’s room to see the children.
Juana’s response to the news of her employer’s children reveals that she considers her workplace to be a surrogate family and home: it is as if the babies have joined Juana’s family, as well. This reaction demonstrates the ways in which the standard definition of home—one’s birthplace, or one’s relatives—can evolve over time.
Themes
As soon as Juana sees the children, she bursts into tears. Señora Valencia informs Juana that her daughter is named after her mother, causing Juana to “sob louder.” Juana claims that if the señora’s mother had lived to see the day, she would have been crying as well.
Juana and Señora Valencia’s interaction demonstrates the ways that death and grief manifest in the existences of the living. The señora illustrates the depths of her grief by naming her child after her mother—the name may be a comfort, but it will also serve as a constant reminder of her loss, thereby illustrating the power death will always have over the lives of those left behind. Juana also memorializes the señora’s mother through tears and grief, and evokes the dead noblewoman’s memory as if her presence is still felt.
Themes
