"We love proudly and freely. This is our power"
The Moonlit Vine is a 2023 YA novel by Elizabeth Santiago. Its premise borrows heavily from Taíno Mythology.Fourteen-year-old Taína, known to her friends and family as Ty, is dealing with multiple family issues, an antagonistic teacher, a neighborhood that is changing quickly and leaving its residents behind. One night, her grandmother Isaura passes her a box, a carved stone idol called a zemi, and amulet. She tells Ty that she is the descendent of Taino cacica Anacaona. Before being assasinated Anacaona passed on the artifacts to her daughter Higüamota and instructed her to pass them along to her own daughter. Now Ty is the latest in the chain and she is left to wonder how best to use the powers within the amulet.
Tropes present in this work
- Arc Words: Isaura shares these with her granddaughter Ty, who copies them in her journal:"We are the light that makes the night sky bright. We are the music that warms the heart and blesses the soul. We love proudly and freely. This is our power."
- Break the Cutie: One day, Luis acts out in school and a school resource officer is called in to remove him from the classroom. Even though he is only seven, he held down and put in handcuffs. He is left traumatized; when police officers come to his home, he is convinced they came to arrest him.
- Children Are Innocent: Luis, Ty's little brother, does not understand why his beloved older brother had to move away from home and in with their father, or his grandmother's death.
- Foil: Ms. Neil and Ms. Carruthers, Ty's English and history teachers. The former considers Ty disrespectful and disruptive and accuses her of having an "attitude " whenever Ty speaks or even asks what is expected of her. She persists in pronouncing Ty's given name as Ty-na even when other adults pronounce it correctly right in front of her. Ms. Carruthers encourages Ty when she picks the history of Spaniards colonizing Puerto Rico for a project, and pronounces her name Taína (Ty-EE-na) correctly. She also defends Ty to Ms. Neil when the latter refuses to admit to her classroom.
- Food Porn: Puerto Rican food features heavily, but the descriptions of alcapurrias (fritters made with green bananas, taro root, and ground beef) are thorough enough to make you salivate.
- Freudian Excuse: Esmeralda warns Ty to keep her head down and not make waves. Isaura explains Esmeralda's attitude to Ty:"People on the island [Puerto Rico] didn’t accept her because she was quiet, and they said she was muy orgulloso and stuck up. People in the US didn’t accept her because she was dark and talked with an accent. She didn’t like having to be two people, so over time she became ‘no one.'"
- Historical Domain Character: Taino cacica (female chief) Anacaona
. She ruled the territory of Jaragua in Ayiti (modern day Haiti) from 1500 until her execution in 1503. She had a daughter named Higüamota, but it is not known whether she outlived her mother or had children of her own. In the book, before Anacaona is killed, she passes an amulet and a zemi to her daughter, with instructions to pass on to her own daughter or granddaughter. Higüamota manages to escape from Ayiti to Amoná (now known as Mona, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico) - I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: After passing along the zemi and the amulet to Ty along with instruction, Isaura dies later that night.
- Innocently Insensitive: Ty's cousin Izzy refers to their grandmother Isaura's Alzheimer's diagnosis as "old-timers disease". This irks Ty, as Isaura lives with her and her mother and she finds herself in a caregiver role, while Izzy is not.
- Most Writers Are Adults: Ty is only 14, but she is able to see and outline parallels between her neighborhood's gentrification, colonization and near-extermination of the Taino people, and the mistreatment she and her relatives receive. Her insights are beyond what you would expect given her she and environment.
- Sadist Teacher: Ms. Neil persists in mispronouncing Ty's given name of Taína even when other teachers say it correctly right in front of her. A student with limited fluency in English hesitates before speaking in class, and Ms. Neil tells her to learn English, driving her to tears. And she shows zero compassion or empathy when Ty returns to school after her grandma's funeral.
- Sealed Good in a Can: Anacaona passes an amulet and cemi to her daughter Higüamota that contain the power of their ancestors. It is later passed on to Higüamota's daughter and so on to the next female descendant until Isaura passes it to Ty.
