The Daughter of Invention

“For a period after they arrived in this country, Laura García tried to invent something.”

The opening sentence of the story reveals that Laura’s desire to invent something has ended before we even learn about it. The construction of the sentence also indicates that her inventing was directly related to their arrival in America, as though their arrival in “this country” inspired a period of trying new things. Using the name “Laura García” instead of including her maiden name, de la Torre, as was done in the Dominican Republic, also indicates the ways Laura’s status changes in America.

“She never put anything actual on paper until she had settled her house down at night. On his side of the bed her husband would be conked out for an hour already, his Spanish news-papers draped over his chest, his glasses propped up on his bedside table, looking out eerily at the darkened room like a disembodied bodyguard. In her lighted corner, pillows propped behind her, Laura sat up inventing.”

Despite Laura’s independent and inventive spirit, her work can only really happen after the house has “settled down,” indicating that her primary role as a mother and wife is to tend to the family. While Laura stays up inventing, her husband’s sleep is riddled with memories—he is literally draped in Spanish newspapers, and he sleeps like a “disembodied bodyguard” as though he still needs to protect them from the old dangers of SIM. There is a parallel image in the final sentence of this paragraph that connects Laura staying up late in a “lighted corner” with Yoyo writing in a dark room lit by a single lamp.