The memoir of Raquel Cepeda Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina is an exploration of the modern age racial identity. On the other hand, in her memoir, Brother Am Dying, Edwidge Danticat offers a deep reflection on the personal sacrifices that her parents went through to come to the United States. Also, she offers the reasons why her uncle chose to remain in his home country Although the two memoirs are dramatically different in content and style, both authors try to come to a new understanding of a critical aspect of their identity. One may argue that the goal of the two memoirs is to show how immigrants suffer while all they wanted to have was escape the hardships in their country and come to a place full of hopes and dreams. However, viewing the hardships in the foreign land, some immigrants battle through them to keep their hopes and dreams alive. The sufferings of the two authors motivated them to write their memoirs. Maybe they would inspire someone to work hard to achieve their hopes and dreams despite the obstacles that may be on their way.
In her memoir, Raquel describes how her childhood life was difficult, yet she managed to become a well-known journalist and documentary filmmaker. More than half of the book explores her childhood and upbringing. The remainder of the book talks about how she has traveled the world so that she can discover her roots. As a Dominican-American, Raquel’s roots are spread across the globe. A better part of the book talks about her struggling with her racial identity. She explains that it is not an easy task to be an American, a Dominican, and a Latina, especially when many Latinos do not want to believe that they have a connection to Africa and indigenous people. She says "I’ve been mistaken for being everything except what I am: Dominican. My own racial ambiguity has been a topic of conversation since I was a teenager" (Cepeda 21). Raquel knows that if she wants a better understanding of herself, then she has to accept who she is and embrace in full all of her heritage .
The life journey of Raquel is not easy. Despite her mother coming from a middle class privileged family, she forsakes her bright future and gives her all to a suave singer (Cepeda 106). Her mother starts living irresponsible life after knowing Eduardo. She says "My mother has trouble taking care of me. She can barely take care of herself" (Cepeda 88). She is her first born child. She abandons Raquel and soon gets other children from different men (Cepeda 227). In addition to being selfish, narcissistic and needy, Raquel’s mother is an unstable parent. She gave Raquel little as a mother both when she was a child and as an adult.
Though not perfect, Raquel’s father is far much better – at least she tried to guide her, teach her tennis, walk her through piano lessons with the aim of easing her way to the white society ways (Cepeda 178). Unfortunately, he is brutal to her and occasionally beats her. Further, he prevents her from exploring her interests. Raquel tries to construct the history of her parents and finds out their struggle as immigrants and the false promise they had of the American Dream. New York City is the part and parcel of the American Dream.
As Raquel explores the city of New York, she starts to nurture her own secret New York dream. She dreams of being a music writer. She promises herself that she would never skip an English class to enable her dream to come true (Cepeda 361). Also, she promises herself that she would overcome the difficulties that she has gone through her life. Eventually, she succeeds despite the many obstacles that were on her way. What is stays in the reader’s mind after reading Raquel’s memoir is how a girl transforms into a woman and how a childhood which had no promising future can lead one to be a successful person.
Another memoir by Danticat shows how immigrants, they suffer when all they dreamt about was a good life. At two years, Danticat’s father left for the United States. Two years later, her mother joined him. Getting out of their country seemed like the only answer to get out of the sufferings as they saw hope in a foreign country that was well developed. For eight years, Danticat lived with his uncle who was sick and desperate. Her uncle was a pastor at a local church and also ran a local school (Danticat 145). Danticat narrates how she spent her life with her uncle and father, which made her essentially have two fathers, and how the final months of the two men coincided with her pregnancy.
When Danticat was 12 years, he received a Visa, which allowed her to go to the United States. With the great development and the economy of the United States, she is amazed upon landing in the country. She sees why immigrants come to the United States and why they have lots of hopes and dreams for a better future. As the immigration process is complete, Danticat and her brother have the chance of reuniting with their parents. While the family may feel safe in New York, it seems as if they are just biding their time there with the main focus being returning to their homeland Haiti.
When Danticat becomes a young adult, she sees the need to visit often her home country where she goes to visit her uncle and aunt. During the visit, she gets to experience the social and political turmoil that is in her home country. A time comes when a violent neighboring gang starts to believe that her uncle is somehow one of the people who is cooperating with the provisional government. Though this is a mistake, they decide to burn his church and forcing his ailing uncle to flee to Miami. Despite her uncle having a legitimate visa and a valid reason for seeking political asylum, the United States Customs agents imprison him (Danticat 461). He later dies while in the custody of Homeland Security (Danticat 518). Five months later, her father dies from pulmonary fibrosis (Danticat 565). The incident occurs a short while after she brings her daughter who is three weeks old to meet her parents. They bury him next to his brother in Queens, New York. Danticat imagined that the two would be reunited in death
Though in different ways, both Raquel and Danticat suffered in a foreign country while all they hoped for was a better life. For Raquel, it seems that the hardships that her parents faced as immigrants made them not to give her the best parental care. While her mother was a don’t care and hoping from one man to another, her father often beats her despite claiming that he wanted her to live the ways of the white society. Though he taught her some lessons to make it easier for her to have the life of middle-class people, he refused to let her pursue her interests. On the other hand, Danticat experienced a totally different type of suffering. She saw violent neighbors burning her uncle’s church with the mistake that he was cooperating with the provisional government. Her uncle fled to Miami, where the authorities refused to give him temporary political asylum and later he died in Department of Homeland Security. Shortly, her father died and was buried next to his brother in New York. Through these experiences, Raquel and Danticat revive their hopes of having a good life and work hard towards achieving their goals.
Works Cited
Cepeda, Raquel. Bird of Paradise: How I Became Latina. Simon and Schuster, 2013.
Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I'm dying. Vintage, 2007.
