In Anita’s understanding, people hang portraits out of admiration for the person depicted. However, Lucinda upends this simplistic understanding, suggesting that the adults in Anita’s life are only pretending to admire Trujillo—another example of adults being deceptive, seemingly to keep everyone safe. This also introduces Anita to the possibility that Trujillo is far more dangerous and powerful than she realized. He has the power to make
everyone hang his portrait—even people Anita thought were strong and independent, like Papi. Anita’s youth also shows through when she doesn’t know what a dictator does. This, though, is probably by design—Trujillo probably won’t let schools teach something that might make him look bad. The notion that the family is still in the Dominican Republic because they can’t leave Toni is frightening—Toni is in major trouble with the government, and it has forced the entire rest of their family to leave. This hints at the severity of the situation in which Anita’s family has found themselves.