Hi folks,

 

I have been reviewing forum work and have noticed a few general trends that I wanted to talk about. First I have been glad that folks are consistently checking in and often have made two posts. This is good, because the more forums you miss the more your grade is impacted, so I am glad that I do not have many consistently missing a post.

Many of you looked at the difference between Fabiola and her cousins, giving detailed notes about the personalities of each girl. I enjoyed reading through these notes most of all when folks dug into thinking about more than just personality traits but examined the motivations and desires of each girl. A lot of you also highlighted the differences between Fabiola's life in Haiti compared with Detroit and what she struggled with in both settings. The comments discussing how Fabiola used her faith as both a tie to her home and as a survival tool or defense mechanism were also thoughtful and show how folks found her to be both strong and unsure as a heroine/protagonist..

Most provocative were those comments that investigated the consequences of Fabiola's choices and how we feel about her responsibility or culpability in light of the aftermath of the story's ending. Should Fabiola feel guilt? And how might we contrast her with another character that questions his role and guilt (Steve Harmon)? That could make for a very powerful literary analysis essay investigating how we interpret these two characters and judge their actions as readers.

 

Here are some samples

 

Question 4) Were you conflicted as Fabiola while reading about the choices/decisions she was presented with? Did you anticipate any of the repercussions/ consequences and which?

From BréLynn:

American Street by Ibi Zoboi was among one of the most difficult novels I’ve had to read.  In the second half of the book my perspective of Fabiola changed dramatically, and I became concerned about the person she was becoming.  I struggled to understand her situation and tried to fathom the awful position she was put in by Detective Stevens, which was to make someone take the wrap for the white girl’s death or never see her mother again.  There was a moment where my stomach sank, and I realized Fabiola was going down a dark road.  Fabiola admits “I have to sacrifice something in order to get her here” (227), talking about her mother.  Her demeanor begins to change as the story unfolds and it isn’t strength but a darkness lingering.  The altercation that Fabiola creates with Dray is gut wrenching, “my hear is lingering somewhere in the deepest part of Dray’s underworld, and from this point on, I will have to claw my way out” (270).  Fabiola is willing to go to an evil place to save her mother, her cousins, and Kaism.

As the novel progressed I had to take breaks because the emotion and drama was difficult to handle.  Ibi Zoboi does an excellent job of foreshadowing upcoming events and from that I anticipated that whatever was to come from Fabiola’s plan, wasn’t good.  There are many times when Fabiola has this false sense of hope and is ruined by the reality around her.  For example, when she believes she has Dray all figured out and realizes that it was her cousins who had been selling the drugs that killed that girl.  Although, Zoboi already hints at these secrets using Papa Legba as a storyteller.  He is the catalyst that pushes Fabiola in different directions that leads to her mother’s release but at a cost.  Bad Leg hums “Pull up a chair, let’s have a meal, shuffle them cards, let’s make a deal.  I’ll give you the key and set you free, be right her waiting for just a small fee.  Beware the lady all dressed in brown.  Don’t even know her way downtown” (83).  At the beginning Zoboi hinted at a fee that Fabiola would have to pay, and he warned her about Detective Stevens.  It wasn’t until Papa Legba’s hum the night Kaism was killed that I understood the fee Fabiola had to pay.

Fabiola’s character changes because of the muddied situations she must face.  In the end my judgement is clouded because I’m mad at Fabiola.  The decisions she made caused Kaism’s death and even though her mother is released I don’t see the point.  The sliver of happiness and dreams that Kaism gave her were taken away.  I think that if we kept reading about Fabiola we would find that she wasn’t better off from this experience.

501 words

 

 

From Paige: 

Every choice and decision Fabiola faced was conflicted. Every decision came with consequences and she never saw a very clear choice. She lived in a place where in order to protect yourself, you have to hurt others. People needed to fear you. "You want to be the kind of chick who no one even thinks of fighting" (Zoboi 261). I can't imagine having to live like that; how that would change you. There was very little justice for the crimes and violence they all faced. People were being murdered, selling drugs, physically hurting other people and no one was doing anything about it. Fabiola had to decide who she was going to protect and how far she would be willing to go to protect them. She would do almost anything to protect her family and get her mother back, including trying to set up Dray even though she knew that would hurt Donna. "I close my eyes and hang my head low because I've betrayed her. Even with everything that Dray has done to her, she still loves him" (Zoboi 293). Fabiola was constantly facing lose-lose situations. No matter what choice she made, someone was going to get hurt. By setting up Dray, Fabiola had to lie to her family and Kasim, and ultimately hurt Donna and played a role in Kasim's death.  

I did not anticipate that Kasim was going to be the one at the party, or that he would end up dead. Little did Fabiola know that she had ended up trading Kasim's life for her mother's freedom. With every difficult choice, Fabiola had to make, I knew there would be consequences and people would get hurt. I would have expected Donna to be upset when finding out that Fabiola wanted Dray to get arrested. "Through the windshield, I spot Dray sitting on the steps to our house" (Zoboi 301). I wasn't surprised that Dray went looking for Fabiola. Kasim was his family and Dray was no stranger to violence when he was upset or angry. I also anticipated that Detective Stevens would keep her word and help Fabiola's mother. "ICE will drop the charges and release your mother into the United States" (Zoboi 320). I think the detective may have felt a little guilty and felt as though she owed it to Fabiola to keep her word.

417 words

 

From Amber:

The second half of this book took a very different turn of events that I had expected. The first half seemed to me that it was a happy story of a young girl starting a new life in Detroit, and not losing hope that one day her mom will be there with her. But, as the story went on it became more harsh, the reality of the world in which she know lives in began to set in. Fabiola was willing to do almost whatever it took to have the chance to see her mother again and bring her to their new home in Detroit. She was given a chance to do so by giving Detective Stevens information on Dray, of when and where he would be selling drugs. Little did she know, her cousins were not as innocent in that aspect of things as she may have thought. Fabiola was faced with a lot of tough decisions and then harsh repercussions and consequences she may have never expected. I think the option for her to rat out Dray on his illegal activities was an easy choice for her. Fabiola did not like Dray, with good reason, he not only physically abused her cousin Donna but, mentally abused her as well. Given the chance, she would rat him out in order to see her mother again and bring her home. I do not think the terrible repercussions of that choice ever crossed her mind. After she found out that her cousins were also involved with selling drugs, the same drugs that had killed a girl from the are, she had a lot of thinking to do. She did not want to get her family into any trouble, after all they had done for her and her mother over the years. Fabiola had a very tough choice to make, she would either have to turn in her cousins for selling drugs or give Detective Stevens what she wanted, which was Dray. She came up with a plan to set up Dray, and in turn she hoped she would get her mom out of New Jersey. Before, she found out that her cousins had involvement with the selling of drugs, I was not conflicted with the choice she had of turning in Dray. From what we knew about him, I felt he deserved to be held responsible for the choices he was making, but then the information about her cousins is exposed and it changes everything. Fabiola never wanted to hurt her cousins, especially after all they had done for her. They were now the Four Bees, she truly was a part of their circle. Instead of telling Detective Stevens that her cousins were responsible for the drugs, she tells Dray about a party in Grosse Pointe Park, where she is telling him that he can sell his drugs there. (267-268) She thinks she has convinced him to show up there and sell drugs. Then she makes a phone call to Detective Stevens that Dray will be at this party with the intention to sell drugs so they can arrest him. (270-271) The events that take place after this were shocking to me as I was reading it. Fabiola was expecting to see Kasim the night of the party but, he seemed to be held up with other obligations and was not answering her. After connecting the dots, Fabiola realizes that something bad must have happened. Her and her cousins rush to the party that she had convinced Dray to attend. There she finds Kasim lying under a white cloth. (298) This terrible event is a repercussion of the choice Fabiola made to turn in Dray to Detective Stevens. Her and her cousins take a slow and quiet trip back to their home on American Street. There they see Dray there awaiting their arrival. Fabiola and Dray get into a terrible and violent argument because of Kasim being killed and Dray knowing why it had happened. Dray has Fabiola at gunpoint but, Dray ends up being shot by Papa Legba. (310) In the end, Detective Stevens give Fabiola a yellow envelope, with cash and a name of a woman who can help Fabiola get her mother. (320) Even though the events that took place were unexpected to me, I was not very surprised due to the environment in which things took place. 

Every action or choice has a repercussion or consequence. I believe Fabiola tried her best to make the right choice in the situations she was in, but unfortunately things did not go the way she had initially thought. I can understand why she would have been conflicted, not knowing what choice to make and not knowing how things would turn out with the choices she made. She was a young girl, in a new world trying to find her place and feeling empty without her mother whom she was very close with. Fabiola learns that being free comes with a price. Her story and choices she makes shows us how the “American Dream” can sometimes become a nightmare. Due to the choices Fabiola faced shortly after arriving to Detroit, many things that she did not see coming happened. Life is full of choices and we have to decide which choices and decisions will lead us down the right path. Even though I did not necessarily anticipate the repercussions of her choices at the end of the book I was not as surprised of the results. Given the situation and environment, I knew that there would not be much good to come after her decision to turn in Dray. I do not fault her for making such a decision, she had a lot to risk by doing so and sadly a lot to lose. She had developed very strong feelings for Kasim, as he did with her and he was a huge part of her new life in Detroit. I have learned that you win some battles and you also lose some, not everything turns out the way you may hope for. Especially in this case, there were a lot of risks involved. 

 

1022 words


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Question 2) Compare Fabiola to her American cousins. What notable differences do you see between them? Might we attribute any personality traits to certain cultures or living environments or just chalk it up to differences in temperament? What do each of the different cousins represent?

From Amber:

Fabiola is rather different from her three cousins. I would say that is due to her upbringing, in Haiti, in comparison to Chantal, Donna, and Pri. Growing up in Haiti for Fabiola was much different from the cousins growing up in Detroit. In Haiti, Fabiola and her mother only had each other. They were able to keep in touch with her mother’s sister, Jo, and Fabiola’s cousins through social media. Aunt Jo would also send money to help them out, which allowed Fabiola to attend an American school. As well as the funds and paperwork to bring them to Detroit. In reality, even though they had the help from Aunt Jo, Fabiola and her mother relied solely on one another living in Haiti. Now that Fabiola is in Detroit with her cousins and her mother is being detained in New Jersey, she has to try and function on her own basically. She prays some nights for her mother to be okay and for them to let her go so she can also come to Detroit and they can all be together.  Fabiola meets a boy, and starts to fall for him and find happiness. But we see that she doesn't feel like she can be happy without her mom there with her. This shows how much she cares about her mother and how close of a relationship they have.

Fabiola’s cousins had a much different upbringing. Chantal was born in Haiti and is considered a “resident alien.” Pri and Donna were both born and raised in Detroit. They have had a tougher childhood due to the environment in which they grew up. The three of them are more rough around the edges, and all have each other’s back. They are fiercely loyal and protective over their family, but they have had to learn to fend for themselves. They are known as the “Three Bees.” “Chantal is the brains, Donna is the beauty, and me, I’m the brawn...The biggest, baddest bitches from the west side,” Pri tells Fabiola. No one messes with the three of them. (46)

The three of them are similar in manys ways but also have very distinct differences. Chantal, the oldest, is attending Wayne County Community College, even though her mother hoped she would go to a better college. She chose to stay home and attend college to be there to take care of her mother and to watch out for her sisters. This shows how she is family oriented and puts other people before her. Donna, one of the twins, is very focused on her makeup, hair and clothes. She is in an abusive relationship with a guy from their neighborhood named Dray. Pri is the complete opposite of her twin sister Donna, she is more of a tom-boy in that aspect. Pri wears khaki pants to school while Donna wears a shorter skirt. (41) We also learn that Pri may have a crush on a girl from school, so she may or may not be struggling with coming out in public.

I believe that the differences between Fabiola and her cousins is mainly due to the cultures and living environments. Growing up in Detroit had to of been a rougher environment in comparison to Fabiola growing up in Haiti. The cousins had to experience their father being killed when they were very young, which I believe that is why the three of them are very tough and people do not mess with them. Fabiola and her cousins both grew up without their father figures. When they were younger they had people always checking up on their house and on them after their father was killed.  Not long before Fabiola arrived to the city, a young girl died from “an alleged lethal cocktail of designer drugs.” (40) Then we learn that another young girl was killed the month previous and her story was not even in the news. Drugs, parties, killings, are all things the cousins are exposed to in their daily lives. These two different living environments are what make each one of them different and unique. From the reading so far, I believe Chantal represents the more grounded, and logical characteristics. She is the oldest and knows how to take care of herself and the rest of them. Donna represents the free spirit and spontaneous characteristics. Pri represents the more cautious one of them. Each of them expose Fabiola to things she may not have been familiar with from growing up in Haiti.

 

793 words

 

 

 


Last modified: Saturday, 5 October 2019, 2:08 PM