Genre
Immigrant fiction, Novel.
Setting and Context
America. At the dawn of the 21st century.
Narrator and Point of View
Lizet narrates in first-person voice.
Tone and Mood
Struggle, crisis, hope, fear, and anxiety.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Lizet-Protagonist. Lizet's Family (especially parents)- Antagonists.
Major Conflict
Lizet’s attempts to fit in in America and to excel educationally and socially as a Cuban immigrant.
Climax
The furore relating to Ariel Hernandez’s immigration/asylum status.
Foreshadowing
N/A
Understatement
Lizet understates her Americanness by claiming her birthplace is Cuba.
Allusions
Allusion to biology, such as the coral reefs.
Historical allusions: 2000 elections.
Imagery
Ariel’s tribulations portray the impediments immigrants from Cuba face in their endeavor to make America their home (through the asylum route). The backing he gets from the community of Cuban-Americans illustrates solidarity.
Paradox
Lizet’s mother makes paradoxical claims about the correspondence between her story of immigration with Ariel’s, yet, her daughters are Americans (through birth).
Parallelism
Lizet employs fabricated parallelism by likening her daughters’ situation to Ariel’s.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Home denotes America.
Fidel Castro is representative of Cuba and communism.
Personification
N/A
