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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Clap When You Land, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Family
Secrets
Grief
Money, Security, and Immigration
Growing Up and Sexual Violence
Summary
Analysis
When Camino returns home after getting her report card, she has a social media notification. She sent the message days ago and assumed Yahaira wouldn’t respond—but she has responded. Tía offers Camino something to eat, but Camino feels nauseous. She opens the message. Yahaira has sent questions, and she seems shocked. She clearly didn’t know about Camino. She asks how old Camino is, where in the Dominican Republic she lives, if she has any siblings, and if Papi lived with her when he visited. In closing, Yahaira says they should video chat.
Despite deciding at the end of the last section to ignore Camino, Yahaira has clearly come around and decided to reach out. Still, her message sounds as hurt and angry as she did while narrating the last section—but here, Yahaira’s hurt and anger only helps her as it shows Camino that Yahaira hasn’t been willfully ignoring her for years.
Themes
Tía, and sometimes Papi, have been the only family Camino has ever known. She’s never wanted siblings and seldom misses Mamá. It’s weird to suddenly see another person with the same face. Yesterday Yahaira was just a name, and she represented the future Camino wants. Now, she’s a real person—and she’s family, like Tía.
Camino doesn’t reply. Instead, she takes a minute to figure out what she wants to say. She’s nervous to tell Tía that she contacted Yahaira. Tía looks up from her book and seems already to know what happened. Camino explains that she reached out to Yahaira and that Yahaira wants to talk. It surprises Camino when she starts sobbing, but Tía doesn’t seem surprised at all. Tía just pulls Camino close and rocks her. Camino responds to Yahaira, saying that they should speak.
Camino’s emotional outburst suggests that she’s been keeping a lot of emotion inside for some time now—something that she’s implied to readers for weeks now but hasn’t been able to acknowledge to herself. Crying with Tía gives her some relief and some support. It also helps her feel ready to take the next step in building her relationship with Yahaira.
Themes
