American Street

Lacking the strong and protective presence of her mother, Fabiola turns to voodoo and the associated lwas or spirit guides for guidance as she ponders how to make a life for herself in this strange country and free her mother. The lwa that is present throughout much of the book is Papa Legba, guardian of the crossroads. Fabiola believes Papa Legba resides in the body of an old black man with a bad leg who sits on a bucket at the corner of American Street and Joy Road. He speaks in tricks and riddles, but his riddles often foreshadow the book’s major events, such as when he warns Fabiola to beware “the lady dressed in brown,” which we can take to mean Detective Stevens (83). Fabiola doesn’t always seem to understand his advice, but she trusts that Papa Legba will show her the way. When Fabiola reaches a turning point in the novel, she relies upon Papa Legba’s wisdom: “Papa Legba, the keeper of the crossroads, will help me choose” (112). Although Fabiola suffers much heartbreak from following Papa Legba, he ultimately rewards her faith when he reappears to save Fabiola from Dray.  

Money, for some, symbolizes the prosperity and power of America itself, as Fabiola expresses when she grows more confident after receiving money for living expenses: “This unearned cash makes me feel a little bit more American. This is the beginning of the good life, I think” (59). Money, for Fabiola, initially means freedom to do what you want. Without money, what chance is there to survive in America? We also see the impact of money leaving Detroit, which has been devastated by the collapse of American manufacturing, in the boarded-up homes that Fabiola sees around the city.

However, even Fabiola recognizes the challenges that money—or lack thereof—brings. Fabiola declines to tell her cousins about the money she has received from Matant Jo, realizing it might bring about conflict. Money is a source of constant conflict in the book: Chantal scolds Donna for wasting money, for example, and Matant Jo berates Fabiola for being ungrateful after paying for Fabiola’s private school in Haiti. The need for money is what causes Matant Jo to get into the risky loan shark business; it is also what propels Fabiola’s cousins into the drug trade, leading to the death of the white girl in Grosse Pointe Park. Money can buy a lot of things and is necessary to survive in the world, but it cannot buy happiness, as Matant Joy tells Fabiola. As Chantal says, “Money’s just room to breathe, after all” (212).

Fabiola has a more nuanced understanding of money by the end of the book, but she still desires it. “I am superstitious about money now. It is like rainwater here. It pours from the skies. But if you try to catch all of it with wide hands and fingers spread apart—it will slip through. If you try to catch it with cupped hands, it overflows. Here, I will tilt my head back, let it pour into my mouth, and consume it” (320). 

Fabiola’s cousins believe that family comes first. Family is more important than one’s own ambitions or hopes. Family is why Chantal decides to go to a nearby community college instead of attending a more prestigious university. Family is why Pri beats up anyone who dares mock Donna, and later, Fabiola. They believe they need to protect their family, no matter the cost, which is why these cousins call themselves the Three Bees—like queen bees—to protect their reputation and their family. Each bee has a role: beauty (Donna), brawn (Pri), and brains (Chantal). However, there is little room in this tightly knit circle for outsiders, which is why Fabiola’s friend, Imani, doesn’t feel comfortable around Fabiola’s cousins. This family bond becomes solidified after Dray’s death, when Fabiola joins the cousins as a Fourth Bee. “They know our story—the Three Bees. No. The Four Bees” (317). 

Once the bloodshed surrounding Kasim and Dray’s deaths is over, the family has an opportunity for rebirth, which is symbolized by their white clothes and by the fresh, cold snow that falls around them. While beating up Tonesha and Racquel, Fabiola describes the “hot red” that “pumps fire—hot, sizzling in the pit of my stomach” (254). This red heat represents Fabiola’s anger and frustration at her inability to change her unjust circumstances, which seem to be are crushing her under their weight. In the book’s final chapter, this red, hot anger morphs into the blank white slate “of rebirth and new beginnings” (321). We no longer associate the cold snow with despair, but instead with a fresh start for Fabiola and her family.

In a more literal sense, white also refers to the skin tone of some of the people of Detroit, which Fabiola describes as a “mix of white and not-white” (7). Although most of the characters in this book are black and the author focuses largely on the black history of Detroit, we get the sense that there is a great deal of economic inequality between the white and black populations of Detroit; for example, Grosse Pointe Park—where the white girl overdosed—is associated with white affluence. One of the characters also briefly mentions “white flight”: when white residents with financial means left the city of Detroit for the suburbs as American manufacturing crumbled, leaving the city’s remaining—and largely black—residents with few economic resources.  

“The cold threatens to swallow me whole,” says Fabiola as she steps out of the airport into the chilly Detroit fall. Throughout the book’s early chapters, Fabiola repeatedly refers to the cold of Detroit, which functions not only as a symbol of the “chilly” welcome she receives in America from her family, but also as a symbol of the stark differences between Haitian and American culture. Temperature-wise, Haiti is a warm country, but the differences go beyond that. We associate hospitality and generosity with warmth or kindness. Fabiola repeatedly talks about Haitian culture as being hospitable and warm—filled with family and comfort. In contrast, she feels alone in America, despite being surrounded by family. Thus, “cold” is how Fabiola perceives the city of Detroit and America more broadly speaking. 

Throughout the novel, Fabiola refers to breath as a symbol of life and something that connects her and her family. Whatever our differences, we all breathe. As Fabiola says after Dray’s death, “We all stand there and inhale, exhale together. In one breath” (312). However, sometimes we struggle to breathe—to survive. Here, breath is presented as a break from reality: Where we are constantly fighting or struggling to move forward, we don’t feel free. As Dray recalls in his story: “I remember running toward some sky, some space, some room to breathe. Freedom” (313).