65 pages • 2 hours read
Lynn JosephThe Color of My Words
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2000A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
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BetaChapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Merengue Dream”
In this chapter, Ana Rosa shifts her focus to the importance of music in the Dominican Republic, where “music grows in our blood right from the cradle” (45). She describes merengue, salsa, and bachata as three key dances that everyone knows, especially her Papi, who is an excellent dancer.
Ana Rosa’s family hosts fiestas twice a month where people gather to eat and dance, yet Ana Rosa dislikes these events since they make her feel embarrassed about her own lack of dancing skills. Before the next fiesta, Papi tries to teach Ana Rosa how to dance. When their attempts in the yard seem to fail, Papi takes Ana Rosa to the beach, which Ana Rosa loves.
Once on the beach, Papi stands Ana Rosa close to the water’s edge and tells her to “listen to the sea” (57). As she begins hearing the music of the ocean, Ana Rosa and Papi begin to dance; she is finally able to feel the music. The magic of the moment makes Ana Rosa understand Papi in a new way: “Papi was everything [she] had always wanted him to be” (59).
Chapter 5 Summary: “My Brother’s Friend”
Chapter 5 is all about Guario’s best friend, Angel. Ana Rosa had realized she’s in love with Angel; “just thinking about him made [her] feel sick” (62). Every time Angel is at her family’s house or coming to see Guario, Ana Rosa wishes that he would spend time with her and see her as beautiful.
When it comes time for the annual Christmas fiesta, Ana Rosa is excited to show off in a new dress that Mami made for her out of old dresses. Even though everyone compliments Ana Rosa, it is Angela who is the star. Ana Rosa thinks, “I had never seen anyone so lovely” (69). At the fiesta, Angela and Angel begin dancing together, and Ana Rosa struggles with her disappointment, even turning down the offer of a dance with Guario. To comfort her, Guario sits with Ana Rosa on a wall outside the party, and they talk about the future and the pain of her unrequited crush.
Chapter 6 Summary: “One Sunday”
The opening poem of “One Sunday” gives some clues as to the turmoil that will take place in the chapter. Ana Rosa describes a storm that blows in questions like “Who am I” (79). The chapter opens with Ana Rosa’s family’s ritual of going to the beach on Sundays, where Papi gets drunk and more embarrassing. Sometimes, once Papi would get very drunk, he would drag Ana Rosa around the beach, proclaiming, “This is my daughter. MY daughter!” (83).
One day, while walking home from school, Ana Rosa meets a fancy looking man riding through town on a mule. The man gives Ana Rosa five pesos and tells her to buy something nice for herself as well as Mami’s favorite cake. At home, when Ana Rosa presents Mami with the cake, Mami angrily demands to speak to the shop owner to make sure Ana Rosa hasn’t stolen it. When Mami has confirmed that Ana Rosa truly got the cake honestly, they discuss how Ana Rosa got the money, and Mami admits that Papi is not Ana Rosa’s real father.
Ana Rosa reflects deeply on this new information, struggling with her identity. She realizes that she is still a writer, and she concludes that she can still claim her family, and her Papi, as her own.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
Ana Rosa’s growing maturity is a central component of these chapters, as she becomes more aware of the adult dynamics around her and her own role in her family and community. An important representation of this transition is Ana Rosa’s ability to dance, which develops in Chapter 4 and then remains important in Chapters 5 and 6. When Ana Rosa describes the impactful moment when she discovers her true biological origins, she first introduces the idea that this takes place “a few months after [she] had turned twelve and […] had finally learned to dance” (83). Learning to dance, in many ways, reflects Ana Rosa’s larger development into a more adult character. Similarly, at both the dance and in Ana Rosa’s interactions with Mami after her revelation, Ana Rosa finds herself having the new capacity to not “need words to know everything” (75). Although words are still central to her identity, Ana Rosa is shifting her understanding of the world around her to be able to read people and interpret their emotions. This is an important but subtle shift in Ana Rosa’s character as it prepares her for the events in the climax of the novel.
Throughout The Color of My Words, Lynn Joseph weaves in different aspects of Dominican culture and identity using her young protagonist’s perspective. This is an important, intentional aspect of the novel: not only does the plot focus on key issues facing young adolescents, like identity and family, the text also highlights significant parts of the cultural heritage of the Dominican Republic. Joseph makes sure to feature popular foods, events, and ways of interacting. One of the most heavily mentioned aspects of Dominican culture is music and dancing, which we learn about through Ana Rosa’s struggles to feel connected with her family and community. As Ana Rosa learns to dance with Papi on the beach, she feels “the merengue beat slipping into [her] Dominican bones just the way it is supposed to” (59). Ana Rosa is able to be more integrated with her heritage and family through music and dancing. By combining Ana Rosa’s personal narrative with these key aspects of Dominican culture, Lynn Joseph highlights the ways that ethnic identity and ritual are essential to young adults’ feelings of belonging.
