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The Destruction Of Innocence In El Jefe's Life

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The Destruction Of Innocence In El Jefe's Life
The exhilarating novel centers on a little girl named Anita de la Torre, and her life as the infamous dictator Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic. Anita is a character that strongly portrays the traits of innocence and naiveness. She goes to school at the American school in the Dominican Republic. The school has a picture of “El Jefe” hanging up and Anita seems to look up to him as a person: she believes that one day she will be greeted by him as “the girl who never cries”. However, as the secrets of El Jefe unfold, Anita discovers that he tortures and makes many Dominicans “disappear”. Half of her family has fled to the United States when it was safe and the other half had to remain in hiding. Secret police called SIM, invade the compound that Anita and her family live in and restrict the children from normal activities like school. On Anita’s sister’s fifteenth birthday party, El Jefe arrives and shows interest in her, in order to keep her safe she is sent to the United States. …show more content…
The assassination was successful, however, the man who was appointed to announce freedom of the people didn’t follow through with the plan. This allowed El Jefe’s son time to rise to power, who is equal, if not more, vile than his father. The SIM tear through Anita’s compound and captured Anita’s father and her uncle, taking them in as prisoners. Through the medium of a journal, Anita voices her story of living in a closet for several months. After time has passed paratroopers and a helicopter rescue Anita and her mother. After arriving in the United States and reuniting with the rest of her family, Anita’s father was declared dead along with his brother. By this time Anita has come to a conclusion on the true meaning of freedom. “Before we were Free” does an amazing job of representing the Hispanic culture and values through the
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