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20. Malachi
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in With the Fire on High, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Coming of Age and Teen Parenthood
Creativity vs. Professional Norms
Food and Connection
Caregiving, Independence, and Identity
Support, Community, and Mentorship
Summary
Analysis
Nobody in Emoni’s neighborhood (which is predominately Spanish-speaking Caribbean folk and Black transplants from the South) questions what race she is. But Latina grandmothers in other neighborhoods scoff when Emoni can’t answer their questions in Spanish. Emoni understands a lot of Spanish thanks to ’Buela, but at home, they mostly speak English. Sometimes, not speaking better Spanish makes Emoni feel like a “Bad Boricua.” However, others wonder if Emoni is “Black American enough.” In their eyes, being Puerto Rican cancels out being Black, despite Julio having darker skin than Emoni’s mom.
Here, Emoni further explains why people find it difficult to reconcile her ancestry with her appearance. Part of this is cultural: Emoni doesn’t speak much Spanish, so she feels less connected to Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico in some ways (this is why she calls herself a “Bad Boricua; Boricua is a term Puerto Rican people use to describe themselves). Add to this the fact that some people don’t think Emoni is “Black [] enough,” and Emoni can’t win. The racial judgment Emoni experiences mirrors the way that Emoni also has to put up with people’s assumptions and rudeness about her being a teen parent.
Themes
Julio is proud of his African roots and constantly reminds Emoni of where her ancestors came from. ’Buela is also proud of being Black. So, Emoni constantly educates people about how most people abducted from Africa were taken to the Caribbean or Latin America. She also defends her Black American roots and remembers the wisdom that her female ancestors from the South have been passing down since they first set foot in America. Emoni passes this wisdom on to Babygirl. Emoni’s ancestry is complicated, but she’s not a long-division problem that needs to be divided in pieces. She’s wholly Black.
As Emoni sees it, the people trying to fit her into a specific box don’t understand how rich Emoni’s life is because she can connect to both her Puerto Rican and Black American roots. And really, thanks to Julio, Emoni knows that the two are more connected than most people think, as descendants of people abducted in Africa inhabit both the American South and the Caribbean. The “wisdom” Emoni seems to pass on to Babygirl is to take pride in who she is, even if their ancestry is complicated.
Themes
