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Chapter 16
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
School has been out for weeks now, but Camino has hidden three school bills beneath a candle on Tía’s altar. Hopefully, Tía won’t see them, and the Saints will step in. Also, Zoila and Yahaira are rich and owe Camino. In just over a week, on July 29, Camino will turn 17. Papi will be buried that day, too. Camino has no idea if Yahaira knows it’s her birthday. She spends her days swimming and ignores El Cero, who takes phone videos of her from the shore. She helps Tía visit patients like the lady with cancer, and she visits Carline.
That Camino is hoping the Saints will step in to help with the bills suggests that she’s hoping for a miracle—implying too that she doesn’t necessarily trust Zoila and Yahaira to come through with the money Camino is entitled to from the airline settlement. Camino is becoming marginally more comfortable around El Cero; at least, she no longer seems to fear he’ll assault her at the beach and in comparison, the phone videos seem comparatively inconsequential.
Themes
Forty-Six Days After. Four days before Yahaira will arrive, Camino works up her courage and calls her sister. Camino refuses to share any details about the funeral unless Yahaira transfers money. It almost hurts to see Yahaira’s face fall, but Camino is desperate. She has to leave here after Papi’s funeral, no matter what. Yahaira’s face goes blank, but she says it’s Camino’s money too and asks how much Camino would like her to transfer. Camino flinches, guilty, but she knows nobody gets anything for free—a chess player like Yahaira should know that. She asks for $10,000, swallows bile, and gives Yahaira the information to wire the money. Then, Camino hangs up without saying goodbye. She doesn’t want to give Yahaira any reason to get attached.
Readers know that Camino dreams of leaving the Dominican Republic and studying to be a doctor in the U.S. With Papi dead, that dream seemed out of reach—but with Yahaira able to wire money immediately, Camino feels like her dreams are a bit closer. However, Camino also feels like she’s entering morally questionable ground here as she sets up an ultimatum to get the money from Yahaira. She knows this isn’t kind, but she’s too desperate to be willing to prioritize politeness right now. This contrasts with Yahaira, who earlier was scolded to be polite on the phone with her coach when she really just wanted to lash out.
Themes
Yahaira sends money and her flight details, and then she asks Camino to pick her up from the airport. Camino is offended: does Yahaira really think she has a car, or is Yahaira treating her like an errand girl whose compliance she purchased? Either way, it annoys Camino—but she also knows the taxi drivers will cheat Yahaira, and she couldn’t live with herself if something happened to her. Papi’s ghost—and Yahaira’s ghost—would haunt Camino. Camino already feels awful about the money, which she taped to a photo of Papi on the altar. She agrees to pick up Yahaira, though she doesn’t know how she’ll do that. Is this what being a sister is? Making things that are impossible, possible?
Camino is reading a lot into Yahaira’s request to get a ride home from the airport—Yahaira has never been to the Dominican Republic, so she doesn’t have any idea what’s customary there. So, while Camino reads the request as entitled, it’s possible Yahaira doesn’t mean it this way at all. This shows that Camino is essentially looking for reasons to dislike and distrust her sister, which she noted earlier is in part because she plans to betray Yahaira in some way with her nebulous plan to get to the U.S.
Themes
