Before We Were Free

by

Julia Alvarez

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 uses pimple cream, even though Anita insists that Lucinda doesn’t need it.) Lucinda also treats Anita with scorn when Anita asks for information about what’s going on. However, the girls grow closer as Lucinda takes it upon herself to tell Anita about their family’s involvement in the resistance movement. Since she’s the only person in the family who will tell Anita anything, Anita returns to Lucinda again and again for information—Lucinda appears to share it because she understands that Anita is more scared and confused without knowing and she wants to look out for her sister and help her mature. Lucinda has a rash on her neck that appears whenever she’s stressed. It’s visible for most of the novel—though it grows worse after Susie’s quinceañera, when Trujillo decides to court Lucinda. Lucinda is understandably terrified at the prospect of becoming Trujillo’s next rape victim, though she’s also frightened when her only option turns out to be leaving the country. On the night before she flees to the U.S., Lucinda talks to Anita about boys and and Anita feels a deep love for her. In the morning, when the girls discover that Anita started her period, Lucinda promises not to tell anyone. Anita sees this as proof that she and Lucinda are growing closer.

Lucinda Quotes in Before We Were Free

The Before We Were Free quotes below are all either spoken by Lucinda or refer to Lucinda. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Coming of Age and Political Consciousness Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

Now I’m really confused. I thought we liked El Jefe. His picture hangs in the front entryway with the saying below it: IN THIS HOUSE, TRUJILLO RULES. “But if he’s so bad, why does Mrs. Brown hang his picture in our classroom next to George Washington?”

“We have to do that. Everyone has to do. He’s a dictator.”

I’m not really sure what a dictator does. But this is probably not a good time to ask.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Lucinda (speaker), Papi, Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith, Tío Toni, Mrs. Brown
Page Number: 16-17
Explanation and Analysis:

“That’s where I’m from,” Sammy says, puffing out his chest, as if someone is going to pin a medal on it. “Greatest country in the world.”

I want to contradict him and say that my own country is the greatest. But I’m not sure anymore after what Lucinda told me about us having a dictator who makes everybody hang his picture on their walls.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Sam Washburn (speaker), Lucinda, Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Six Quotes

Not even the thought of falling in love with Sam is a consolation anymore. Overnight, all boys (except for Papi and Tío Toni and Mundín) have become totally gross. Here’s an old lech flirting with my sister. Here are Oscar and Sam drinking liquor and throwing up. If only I could be like Joan of Arc, cut off my hair and dress like a boy, just to be on the safe side. Or even better, if only I could go backward to eleven, instead of forward to thirteen!

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Papi, Sam Washburn, Lucinda, Mundín, Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith, Tío Toni, Oscar Mancini, Susie Washburn
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:

I lift the sheet and she looks down with a questioning expression. Then a knowing smile spreads on her lips. “Congratulations,” she says, leaning over and kissing me. “My baby sister’s a señorita.”

I don’t feel like a señorita. I feel more like a baby in wet diapers. And I don’t want to be a señorita now that I know what El Jefe does to señoritas.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Lucinda (speaker), Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seven Quotes

“I think we’d better have the nurse look at you,” she says, taking my hand.

I don’t resist. I stand and walk with her. As we cross the front of the room, Charlie Price makes a circle motion in the air to Sammy, who grins as if he agrees.

I feel like screaming, I AM NOT CRAZY! But instead, I swallow that scream, and suddenly it’s very quiet inside me.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Mrs. Brown (speaker), Sam Washburn, Lucinda, Charlie Price
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Ten Quotes

Then one of them shook our hands and said, “Welcome to the United States of America,” and pointed us out of Immigration. And there was my answer to how I would survive in this strange, new world: my family was waiting for us—Mundín and Lucia, my grandparents, Carla, her sisters, and Tía Laura and Tío Carlos and Tía Mimí—all of them calling out, “Anita! Carmen!”

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Mami, Lucinda, Mundín, Carla
Page Number: 143
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Before We Were Free LitChart as a printable PDF.
Before We Were Free PDF

Lucinda Quotes in Before We Were Free

The Before We Were Free quotes below are all either spoken by Lucinda or refer to Lucinda. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Coming of Age and Political Consciousness Theme Icon
).
Chapter Two Quotes

Now I’m really confused. I thought we liked El Jefe. His picture hangs in the front entryway with the saying below it: IN THIS HOUSE, TRUJILLO RULES. “But if he’s so bad, why does Mrs. Brown hang his picture in our classroom next to George Washington?”

“We have to do that. Everyone has to do. He’s a dictator.”

I’m not really sure what a dictator does. But this is probably not a good time to ask.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Lucinda (speaker), Papi, Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith, Tío Toni, Mrs. Brown
Page Number: 16-17
Explanation and Analysis:

“That’s where I’m from,” Sammy says, puffing out his chest, as if someone is going to pin a medal on it. “Greatest country in the world.”

I want to contradict him and say that my own country is the greatest. But I’m not sure anymore after what Lucinda told me about us having a dictator who makes everybody hang his picture on their walls.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Sam Washburn (speaker), Lucinda, Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Six Quotes

Not even the thought of falling in love with Sam is a consolation anymore. Overnight, all boys (except for Papi and Tío Toni and Mundín) have become totally gross. Here’s an old lech flirting with my sister. Here are Oscar and Sam drinking liquor and throwing up. If only I could be like Joan of Arc, cut off my hair and dress like a boy, just to be on the safe side. Or even better, if only I could go backward to eleven, instead of forward to thirteen!

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Papi, Sam Washburn, Lucinda, Mundín, Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith, Tío Toni, Oscar Mancini, Susie Washburn
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:

I lift the sheet and she looks down with a questioning expression. Then a knowing smile spreads on her lips. “Congratulations,” she says, leaning over and kissing me. “My baby sister’s a señorita.”

I don’t feel like a señorita. I feel more like a baby in wet diapers. And I don’t want to be a señorita now that I know what El Jefe does to señoritas.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Lucinda (speaker), Trujillo/El Jefe/Mr. Smith
Page Number: 71
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Seven Quotes

“I think we’d better have the nurse look at you,” she says, taking my hand.

I don’t resist. I stand and walk with her. As we cross the front of the room, Charlie Price makes a circle motion in the air to Sammy, who grins as if he agrees.

I feel like screaming, I AM NOT CRAZY! But instead, I swallow that scream, and suddenly it’s very quiet inside me.

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Mrs. Brown (speaker), Sam Washburn, Lucinda, Charlie Price
Page Number: 79
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter Ten Quotes

Then one of them shook our hands and said, “Welcome to the United States of America,” and pointed us out of Immigration. And there was my answer to how I would survive in this strange, new world: my family was waiting for us—Mundín and Lucia, my grandparents, Carla, her sisters, and Tía Laura and Tío Carlos and Tía Mimí—all of them calling out, “Anita! Carmen!”

Related Characters: Anita (speaker), Mami, Lucinda, Mundín, Carla
Page Number: 143
Explanation and Analysis: