Before We Were Free Character Analysis

Anita

Anita, the novel’s 12-year-old protagonist, is a Dominican girl living through the final days of the repressive Trujillo regime. She has grown up among her entire extended family, but when her relatives flee to the… read analysis of Anita

Mami

Mami is Anita, Lucinda, and Mundín’s mother. She’s a loving and caring person, but Anita finds her annoyingly strict and nervous; Mami consistently takes tranquilizers to help with her bad nerves. With… read analysis of Mami

Papi

Papi is Anita’s father. He was educated in the U.S. and runs the family business selling hurricane-safe building materials. A few weeks after Anita begins her story, she discovers that Papi is involved with… read analysis of Papi

Chucha

Chucha is Anita’s family’s housekeeper, who is originally from Haiti. She’s been with the family since Papi was a baby and the family trusts her with everything. Chucha sleeps in a coffin to prepare… read analysis of Chucha

Sam Washburn

Sam is Mr. Washburn’s son; he’s a 12-year-old American boy living next door to Anita in the Dominican Republic. Sam has blond hair that Anita thinks looks bleached. At first, it looks bleached in… read analysis of Sam Washburn

Lucinda

Lucinda is Anita’s 15-year-old sister. At the beginning of the novel, Anita scoffs at Lucinda—to her, Lucinda seems like a self-centered teenager who cares only about her looks. (She sleeps in hair rollers and… read analysis of Lucinda

Mr. Washburn

Mr. Washburn is an American diplomat who is tall and wears a bowtie. After the SIM search Anita’s family’s compound, Mr. Washburn decides to move his family in next door. While Anita is most… read analysis of Mr. Washburn

Mundín

Mundín is Anita’s older brother; he’s 14 when the novel begins. He has a nervous habit of chewing his fingernails, and he’s often nervous these days because of the danger that the family is… read analysis of Mundín

Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith

Rafael Trujillo is the antagonist of the novel; he was the dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961, serving two terms as president and ruling from behind the scenes the rest of the… read analysis of Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith

Tío Toni

Tío Toni is Anita’s paternal uncle. He’s young at 24 and he’s very popular with women. Several months before the novel begins, Tío Toni disappeared. Anita later learns that this is because Toni was… read analysis of Tío Toni

Oscar Mancini

Oscar is the son of Mr. Mancini, an Italian diplomat in the Dominican Republic. His mother is Dominican, and he’s in Anita’s class at the American school. At school, Oscar isn’t well liked… read analysis of Oscar Mancini

Carla

Carla is Anita’s favorite cousin. Though Anita doesn’t offer much information about Carla’s personality, Carla has a nervous habit of tucking her hair behind her ears and, like her three sisters, she has a… read analysis of Carla

Mr. Mancini/Tío Pepe

Mr. Mancini is an Italian diplomat in the Dominican Republic. He’s also Oscar’s dad. When Anita and Mami go into hiding in the Mancinis’ closet, he asks that Anita call him Tío Pepe. This… read analysis of Mr. Mancini/Tío Pepe

Wimpy

Wimpy owns Wimpy’s, a fancy grocery store in town. It carries mostly American foods and has air conditioning. Wimpy himself is an American marine who married a wealthy Dominican woman. He’s muscled with lots of… read analysis of Wimpy

Mrs. Mancini/Tía Mari

Mrs. Mancini is a woman in Mami’s canasta group. She’s the wife of Mr. Mancini, and she’s Oscar’s mother. Mrs. Mancini is involved in the resistance, and she and Mami eventually realize… read analysis of Mrs. Mancini/Tía Mari

Mrs. Brown

Mrs. Brown is Anita’s teacher at the American school. She is generally nice, but Anita observes some discriminatory behaviors—for example, Mrs. Brown gives the good parts in skits to American rather than Dominican students… read analysis of Mrs. Brown

Lorena

Lorena is a maid that Mami hires from the Domestic Academy. Anita offers little in the way of description about Lorena, aside from the fact that she’s very superstitious. From the beginning, Mami treats Lorena… read analysis of Lorena

Susie Washburn

Susie is Sam’s older sister; she turns 15 in the spring of 1961. Anita doesn’t know Susie well, as Susie becomes close friends with Lucinda and the older girls don’t care to play with… read analysis of Susie Washburn

Pupo

Pupo never appears in the novel in person. He’s the leader of the military and he conspires with Papi and the other members of the resistance. They plan for Pupo to temporarily take control of… read analysis of Pupo

Minor Characters

Mrs. Washburn

Mr. Washburn’s wife and Sam’s mother. She becomes friends with Mami, joining a canasta group with her. She is confident in her husband’s power as an American diplomat, though she can be brash with that confidence in an insensitive way.

Tía Laura

Tía Laura is Anita’s aunt; she’s the mother of Carla, Yo, Sandi, and Fifi. She looks constantly worried. Along with her daughters, Tía Laura leaves the Dominican Republic in early November. She moves to Queens, New York.

Sister Mary Joseph

Sister Mary Joseph is a teacher at a Catholic school in New York. She allows Anita to sit in on her second-grade class. Though kind, Sister Mary Joseph makes Anita feel even less at home by asking her to tell the class about the Dominican Republic.

Monsito

Monsito is a poor boy who helps Anita’s family carry bags when they shop in the market. Though he’s about Anita’s size, he says he’s 16—apparently, he’s so small because he’s malnourished. Papi sees kids like Monsito as the reason that the Democratic Republic needs to become a democracy.

Navajita

Navajita is a SIM agent who arrests Papi and Tío Toni. His name means “little razor blade.” Though Anita wonders where he got his nickname, she fortunately never finds out.

Tío Carlos

Tío Carlos is Carla’s father. He narrowly escapes arrest for his involvement in the resistance movement by traveling to the U.S. ahead of his wife, Tía Laura, and four daughters.

Trujillo Junior

Trujillo Junior is Trujillo’s son. He takes over after his father is assassinated and commits even more human rights abuses than his father did. At the end of the novel, under political pressure, he steps down from leading the country.

Joey Farland

Joey is one of Anita’s classmates. His father is the American ambassador to the Dominican Republic.

Charlie Price

Charlie is one of Anita’s classmates. He makes fun of Anita and insinuates that she’s crazy when she has to go to the nurse.

Sandi

Sandi is one of Carla’s younger sisters. She moves to New York at the beginning of the novel.

Yo is one of Carla’s younger sisters. She moves to New York at the beginning of the novel.

Fifi

Fifi is the youngest García sister. She’s only a baby when her family leaves the Dominican Republic at the start of the novel.

Papito

Papito is Anita’s grandfather. He lives in New York.

Mamita

Mamita is Anita’s grandmother. She lives in New York.

María de los Santos

María is Oscar’s older sister; Mundín has a crush on her.