Grief In Clap When You Land

Grief is such a powerful emotion that comes when someone experiences a loss. It’s a feeling that can show itself in so many different ways, and is usually hard to deal with. Elizabeth Acevedo's novel, Clap When You Land, is a near perfect portrayal of grief and how it can affect different people in different ways. This book tells the story of two half-sisters, Camino and Yahaira. After their father dies in a plane crash, they become aware of the other sisters' existence for the first time. The two girls live completely different lives in completely different places. Camino lives in the Dominican Republic with her Tia, all alone because her mother passed away when she was young. Yahaira lives in New York City with her mother. When they find

She has experience with it when her mother dies early on in her childhood. She becomes extremely close to her father when he is living in the Dominican Republic 6 months out of the year. When he dies in the plane crash, Camino is left lonely and isolated. She hides her emotions well, afraid that telling someone will shatter her. “I am afraid that I would break” (32). She doesnt open up her heart to anyone, not her best friend Carline, or Tia. With only her Tia left as family, or so she thinks, she feels alone more now than ever. “I’ve never once felt orphaned./ Not with Tia dogging my steps and smacking my hand,/ and wiping my tears and telling me what my mother would say./…/I never felt like an orphan until today” (104). As the story continues, Camino struggles to get through this orphaned feeling, but as she meets Yahaira, and learns of her life, she feels a new familial

She doesn't even know how to process her fathers death, and how to pile that on top of the process it takes to understand his secret life across the world. Ultimately, Yahaira feels guilt, and betrayed. After the sadness rushes in, she finds her only comfort in her girlfriend Dre. “...rests her head against my knee/ & hugs my legs./ “I'm here. Yaya. I'm here.”/ For hours we sit. just like that.”(70) After she figures out what she wants to do with this death, and how she lets it affect her, she flies herself to the DR to see Camino. They have an immediate connection, something only they are able to experience, and they begin to see that they aren't very different. Yahaira also learns she isn't the only one grieving. “So it is a strange feeling that's being tattooed on my heart./ This needs to comfort my crying, sad sister” (349). These sisters begin to get over the fact that they have been apart their whole lives, and finally come together to mourn the loss of their