Daughter of Invention (Mami, Papi, Yoyo)
- Hey, guess what? This chapter is the first we see that doesn't just focus on the story of Yoyo or her sisters. In this chapter we get to know Yoyo's parents—especially her mom.
- Turns out Yoyo's mom has a name. It's Laura García.
- When Laura first moves to the U.S., she dreams about becoming rich and famous for inventing something awesome.
- Every night, she sits up sketching her ideas on a pad of paper. When her daughters try to interrupt her, she shoos them away.
- Thing is, some of her daughters' complaints are pretty legit. Yoyo, for example, tries to tell her the kids at school are throwing rocks at them.
- We can tell Mami is upset, but she just tells Yoyo to toughen up. "Sticks and stones don't break bones," she says.
- Laura's daughters call her Mami when she's being a good parent, and Mom when she lets them down. This is one of those Mom moments.
- When Laura has a flash of brilliance, she runs to tell her daughter. She promises that when she makes her first million, she'll buy Yolanda a brand new typewriter.
- Laura has come up with some pretty wild ideas: a shower head that sprays soap, a keychain with a timer on it to tell you when your parking meter is about to expire, a car bumper with a detachable can opener.
- She even thought of the roller suitcase. The roller suitcase! Where would we be today without it?
- But Yoyo and her other three daughters aren't very encouraging. Laura always ends up tossing her sketches in the trash.
- One night, Laura is reading The New York Times in bed, when she lets out a yelp that nearly gives her husband Carlos a heart attack.
- Carlos wakes up in a panic that the Dominican secret police (the SIM) have come for them. Paranoid much? Yeah... living under an oppressive dictatorship for a few years will do that to you.
- Don't worry, it's not the SIM. It's... a roller suitcase! Some American dude stole her idea!
- Forget it. She's tired of trying to compete with the Americans. Her inventing days are over.
- Laura only picks up her pencil and pad of paper one more time, and it's to help out one of her daughters. It's kind of a long story. Here it is:
- Yoyo has been selected to deliver the Teacher's Day address in front of the entire school. And she's only a ninth-grader.
- Yoyo's really good at writing stories and stuff. But a speech sucking up to the teachers? That she has to read out loud? In front of everyone? This is going to be so embarrassing.
- She tries to think of a way to get out of it. Maybe her mom can call the school and say she's in a coma?
- Laura tries to encourage her daughter. Everyone gets writer's block. Abraham Lincoln? Writer's block. Shakespeare? Writer's block.
- It's like the American saying goes: "Necessity is the daughter of invention." Well, the phrase is actually: "Necessity is the mother of invention." But close enough, right? (2.2.36).
- Finally, the night before the speech, Yoyo is sitting around, browsing some poetry by Walt Whitman.
- Whitman writes some really edgy stuff. In his poem he says: "I celebrate myself and sing myself" and "He most honors my style who learns under it to destroy the teacher" (2.2.39).
- In other words, he's not singing anyone else's praises, like poetry so often does. He's saying: "I'm the man!"
- This totally inspires Yoyo. She cranks out five pages in no time.
- She reads it to her mom, who pronounces it "beautiful." Her daughter is going to be famous!
- Let's read it to Papi.
- Yoyo proudly reads her speech. When she's finished, her mother is proud. She's radiating pride, in fact. But her dad? Not so much.
- He's furious. This speech is disrespectful! It's insubordinate! It's improper! He forbids Yoyo to deliver that speech!
- Laura tries to defend her daughter, but that just makes Carlos even angrier. His daughters and wife are becoming independent American women. The horror!
- Carlos rips Yoyo's speech into tiny shreds.
- Yoyo is so mad, she calls her father by his worst enemy's famous nickname: "Chapita!" In other words, Papi is acting just like the dictator Trujillo right now. Oh, burn.
- Later that night, Laura helps her daughter write a new speech. It's polite and complimentary. Completely boring, but it'll do.
- Yoyo is a hit at the assembly.
- When Carlos comes home from work that night, he has a surprise for Yolanda. He apologizes to her, and gives her a new electric typewriter.
- Yoyo always thinks of that last-minute speech as her Mami's last invention. It was Mami's way of passing her the buck.