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Summary
Part III, Section 3 “Facing It” – “Assignment 5: First and Final Draft”
The next morning, Xiomara goes to school and finds out Ms. Galiano called her home and talked to Papi because she was concerned about Xiomara running out of poetry club the day before after getting Mami’s voice mail. Xiomara tells her teacher everything, including that she hates her mother. Ms. Galiano tells her that everything will be okay and that she doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do except to talk to her mother. She gives Xiomara her cell number in case she needs to talk to her later, and when Aman walks her out of school after the last class, Twin and Caridad are waiting at the gate for her. Although Xiomara knows no one can face Mami in her place, she suddenly realizes the one person who might be able to help, and she stops by the church on their way home to talk to Father Sean.
At the apartment, Mami is waiting, distraught and tearful. Xiomara tells her they need to talk and that she’s brought Father Sean to help them. For the first time, Xiomara sees the woman she has regarded as both loving parent and abusive monster collapse into tears. When she goes to Mami and embraces her, Xiomara understands they will never see eye-to-eye or fully understand each other, and even as Mami remains silent and does not apologize or tell her she loves her, Xiomara feels that Mami using her hands to hold her is a starting point. They meet with Father Sean once a week to work on their relationship, and one day Mami returns the broken bracelet that she’s had mended. Sometimes Papi and Twin join them, and although Twin holds his silence and never comes out, Xiomara hopes one day he will. Papi, however, opens up and listens when everyone shares things he’s done that have hurt them.
Meanwhile, with Father Sean and Ms. Galiano’s encouragement, Xiomara prepares for the poetry slam. Although Xiomara thinks her poems are too personal to share, Ms. Galiano tells her that poetry allows Xiomara to be herself, and that her words might be what others need to hear. Xiomara is still scared, but she moves forward with choosing and practicing a poem, even reading it in front of Mami, Papi, and Twin who all encourage and support her. She also continues to see Aman who writes her a poem of his own. At the poetry slam, Xiomara performs and gets a standing ovation, but it’s all her friends, family, and even Father Sean in the audience that make her feel successful and powerful. Afterward, Mami and Papi invite everyone back to the apartment, and Xiomara enjoys seeing her friends and mentors together with her family. Isabelle and Caridad start dancing, and Papi pulls Xiomara up to dance, saying he wants to teach her because dancing is a way to communicate love as Mami smiles at them both. In her last English assignment, Xiomara doesn’t need a different rough draft. Her essay is about a favorite quote, and she chooses a Bible verse about how words shine light and allow people to understand one another. She writes about how she thinks of poetry and words in general as her church and how words can bring people together and how her words have helped her find the light in her own life.
Analysis
Xiomara learns more about the power of words and their ability to bring people together. Confiding in Ms. Galiano and asking Father Sean for help serve to build a stronger community around Xiomara. Although she previously had Twin, Caridad, and Aman to talk to, they, like Xiomara, are relatively powerless against Mami. Ms. Galiano and especially Father Sean become the support Xiomara desperately needs, and it’s her words that ultimately draw them to her side. Additionally, it’s words and conversation during family therapy at the church that help to encourage peace and understanding within Xiomara’s family. Even the distant and disconnected Papi becomes more vocal, and he also listens when the others share their stories of feeling disappointed by him. Through their conversations, Xiomara and Mami begin to learn how to relate better with one another, and Mami gives Xiomara the bracelet which she’s had fixed. The melded gold is symbolic of how the damage to their relationship will always be there, but it’s in the process of mending through the power of their words, and the bracelet, like their relationship, can still be functional.
Words are also important for Xiomara as she grows as a poet and performer. Writing and sharing her poetry with the other members of her poetry club and, eventually, her family are an important part of her coming-of-age. Through sharing her poetry, she shares herself and her identity. When she first shares her poetry with Aman and he accepts it and her with affirmation and encouragement, Xiomara gets her first sense of what it feels like to be accepted for who she is. That feeling grows as she is encouraged by Ms. Galiano and, later, the members of the poetry club. When she hears her first spoken word performance in Ms. Galiano’s class, she realizes how much other people’s words can help her feel connected and not so alone in the world. Xiomara’s performance onstage in her first open mic event is a further revelation for her because she finds that reading her work for others is a shared experience. Through her poetry, the audience is not only able to connect with her but with their own feelings as well, just as she has with the poetry readings she’s heard by others. When her parents and Father Sean attend the poetry slam event, it’s a moment of epiphany for them as they are able to see Xiomara for who she is and take part in what she values. It’s through words that Xiomara is able to build community not only with strangers who hear her word but with Mami and Papi who have struggled to understand and appreciate her for who she truly is.
In her final essay for English class, Xiomara demonstrates that she is able to make sense of her spirituality for the first time. Since she was forced into a religion that didn’t resonate or feel true to her, she never considered the nature of faith or spirituality. For Xiomara, the Bible is meant to be read figuratively, as metaphor. That makes sense to her, and she’s able to see God as an entity that does not just exist within the walls of the church building that has always felt so oppressive and restricting to her. As she considers the verse from Psalms that she’s chosen to write about, Xiomara reflects on how talking with others, communing with them, is a fellowship more powerful for her than any sermon. In writing her poetry about her struggles with life, love, and relationships, Xiomara believes she is participating in a different kind of church. Like the quote she chooses from the Bible says, words provide understanding and enlightenment, and that affirms for Xiomara that her words, her poetry, provide a kind of light for not just herself but for others as well.
