Literature Circles: 'American Street'

When Fabiola and her mother decided to make the big move from Delmas, Haiti all the way to the corner of Joy Street and American Street, she expected everything to be different. She expected America to open it's doors to her and her mother because they both had good visas. She expected that she would finally be safe and happy with her mother. She expected that she would live life comfortably and without difficulty with her three cousins and her aunt. Fabiola needs to learn to expect the unexpected.

When she arrives at the airport in America for the first time, she doesn't expect her mother to be detained. Fabiola is told to go ahead to her destination without her mother and that her mother would join her soon. This opened my eyes because it made me realize how easily the staff at airports can tear apart families. When she leaves the airport she says that it feels like she's "leaving part of [herself] behind- a leg, an arm. [her] whole heart (American Street, 13). I believe that this is something that the airport personnel who detained her mother do not think about. Immigration is not something that is personal to me, so learning more about it is really eye-opening. I cannot begin to imagine the hardships the families who immigrate to America go through.