My Family Divided: One Girl's Journey of Home, Loss, and Hope

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Middle Grade | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-10

Chapters 11-16

Chapters 17-20

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Key Figures

Diane Guerrero

Diane Guerrero is the author and first-person protagonist of the memoir My Family Divided. She is a successful American Colombian actor, writer, and political activist. Diane is both the subject and the author of her narrative, presenting her own experiences, feelings, and motivations. Guerrero’s narrative voice is personal and direct, speaking to the reader to build intimacy and foster compassion for the experiences of immigrants in the US. The presentation of the young Diane focuses on the challenges she faced and the effects of those challenges, but it also presents a journey of emotional healing through life. In many ways, her chronological self-narrative uses the rags-to-riches trope to utilize her adult fame and challenge negative stereotypes that surround immigrant communities.

Guerrero’s memoir is filled with personality and emotion, and she tells her story with the hope that she can comfort others as well as inspire people to act. Diane’s greatest passion in life is performing art; she loves to sing, dance, and act, and found the courage to pursue her passion against all odds. Her childhood was shaped by her parents’ status as undocumented immigrants and a constant fear of being discovered. She learned to keep her family and her dream a secret and only found the courage to share her story after years of self-reflection. Guerrero describes herself as “the kid who’s shy on the outside and bursting with song on the inside” (93). While Diane had a happy childhood in many ways, filled with friends, neighbors, and the love of her parents and brother, she was constantly in fear and anxious about losing them. It took a long time and a great deal of courage to confront that pain and overcome it, which she was able to do through her passion in the performing arts as well as in meeting and working with a therapist who understood her.

The figure of young Diane enables Guerrero to critique the US immigration system and challenge negative stereotypes of immigrants by emphasizing Diane’s long-term resilience in the face of state neglect and parental absence. When Diane’s parents were taken away, her Papi told her to be “strong.” Following his advice allowed her to live, attend school, and typically exist, but did not allow her to thrive. The memoir shows Diane was extraordinarily brave in the wake of her parents’ deportation. She experienced understandable shock, panic, and depression but is shown as having the motivation to seek a better and happier life for herself. Diane demonstrated immense courage and independence, as well as the ability to prioritize her own needs, when she made the hard decision to stay in the country without her parents. She knew that all of their work to give her a future would go to waste, and she knew, too, that she would not have the life she wanted in Colombia. After spending years avoiding her dreams due to a fear of failure, Diane enrolled in acting classes and started auditioning for roles. She is now a successful actor and uses her platform to spread awareness about human rights violations and to encourage others to become politically active. She stresses the Importance of Education on Immigration Issues to dispel stereotypes and inspire empathy. Because of Diane’s decision in Using Trauma As Fuel for Hope of a Brighter Future, she is an inspiration and role model for others in similar situations.

Mami and Papi

Diane’s Mami and Papi are at the forefront of the first half of her memoir and are presented as the people who shaped the first half of her life. The early chapters’ intense focus on this parental relationship helps to express the trauma of family separation, as the memoir’s structure emphasizes this point of departure.

Diane’s parents are presented as fully rounded figures, and their backgrounds speak to the wider immigration experience presented in the memoir. The difference between them also demonstrates the heterogeneity of this experience. They were both born and raised in Colombia and met one another in their twenties. They had both experienced loss and wanted to start fresh in a new place, although they loved Colombia. It was Diane’s Mami who made the bold suggestion to try and stay in the US after the 90-day visa expired, and while Papi was always skeptical, he agreed for the sake of his future child. Diane and her Papi had a close father-daughter bond and she was treated as his princess growing up. She notes how her father sacrificed everything to ensure she would have better opportunities than he did: “My Papi. My haven. My anchor. The caretaker whose arms I rested in, whose shoulder I leaned on. The father who worked so tirelessly before the sun even came out, to provide me with a childhood that was far happier than his own” (55). Diane deeply admires her Papi and his work ethic, his insistence on good hygiene, and his strength.

The figures of Mami and Papi also demonstrate the strains of life as an undocumented immigrant, helping the memoir to show how families are affected, both through the eyes of the young Diane and through her adult reflections. These adult reflections on Mami and Papi are a key part of the memoir’s emotional arc. While Diane was growing up, her parents argued often, and much of it was because of the tension surrounding their potential deportation. Diane’s Papi constantly worried about it, and her Mami insisted they should stay. After both of her parents were deported, Diane felt an immense distance between herself and them that went beyond the physical. They became like strangers or people she used to know, and it took effort and time for her to rebuild that relationship. Diane felt especially betrayed by her mother for taking the risk of exposing the family, and struggled on a journey of forgiveness with her Mami. The Strengths and Fragilities of Familial Bonds are shown through this complex relationship. The adult Diane holds a deep admiration for the woman who risked it all to give her and Eric a better life: “Along the way, she fell down, got up, and then toppled to her knees again. But in the end, she always got up. And she deserved not my scorn but my deepest admiration” (205).

Eric

Eric is Diane’s older brother. His role in the narrative is as a foil to Diane’s character, providing context for her story of great personal and professional success. Eric’s parallel struggles help to ground the memoir and to show the effects of the lack of opportunities and discrimination experienced by undocumented migrants. Eric’s own eventual success in life is more modest than Diane’s: it is presented as no less laudable and as a more representative and realistic life story. In many ways, Eric’s figure helps the narrative overcome the paradox that Diane’s story is heard precisely because it is an unusual one.

Eric is 10 years older than Diane and, unlike Diane, was born in Colombia rather than the US. Growing up, Diane and her brother had a special bond and he would often look after her while their parents worked long hours. Unfortunately, as Eric got older, he started to recognize the way society viewed him as an undocumented immigrant and the lack of opportunities he would have as a result. He also came into conflict with his stepfather, Diane’s Papi. Eric felt unwanted both at home and by the world and is shown struggling to navigate the life he finds himself living. Eric moved out on his own and married a woman named Gloria. They had a daughter named Erica, but their relationship suffered due to Eric’s immigration status and uncertainty, ending in separation. Eric was later deported.

When Diane went to see Eric in Colombia years later, he seemed happier and as though he had finally found a path he could be proud of; he had become an English teacher for children in his home country. However, his story is also one of continued familial division as he is unable to visit his daughter Erica.