The woman preys on Ana and convinces her to return the wedding ring that Juan has been keeping as collateral. When she thinks that she has made a friend, a woman who borrowed money from Juan, she ends up betrayed. She’s 15 years old, pretending to be 19 to match her fake passport. Ana’s life in New YorkĪna has very little control over anything. She dreams that Ana will go to school and that she will be able to exert influence on Juan to help the family back home so that they all end up in America. She has no awareness of the racism they face, and how hard they work for the money they earn. Ana’s mother doesn’t see how the Ruiz brothers have to line up for work, and how they live in fear of being deported.

To Ana’s family, being in America automatically affords higher status and greater opportunity, and signifies wealth. All the children share one room, boys and girls separated by a sheet. There are also two other girls, Juanita and Betty, who have lived with their family since their parents passed away. Yonny is the child between Teresa and Ana, and Lenny is the youngest. Her oldest child, Teresa, lives at home with her baby, fathered by a man she disapproves of. Her mother is black and hoped to better her station through marriage, but instead, her in-laws disowned them. The Ruiz brothers want Ana’s father’s land to build a restaurant.Īna’s family is poor. Ana is their ticket, one that Ana’s mother cultivates by having Ana write letters to Juan, so he doesn’t forget her. He lives in New York along with two of his brothers, Cesar and Hector, and Ana’s mom has the ambition for the whole family to move to America. It’s 4 years later when she’s married off to him. Juan Ruiz sets his eyes on her and playfully asks him to marry her at the age of 11. Ana’s FamilyĪna is a pretty girl, with green eyes that stand out. It’s a story of family, immigration, ambition, and identity. In Dominicana, Angie Cruz weaves a story from the Dominican Republic to New York.

Dominicana by angie cruz