American Street

by

Ibi Zoboi

Vodou Term Analysis

Vodou is the religion that Fabiola practices. It’s a religion unique to Haiti that draws on elements from Roman Catholicism and traditional African Yoruba practices. Practitioners pray to lwas, or spirits, for guidance and help.

Vodou Quotes in American Street

The American Street quotes below are all either spoken by Vodou or refer to Vodou. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Dignity and the American Dream Theme Icon
).
Chapter 7 Quotes

She stares at the magic things for a while without touching them before she asks, “Does it work?”

“Well,” I say. “Has anyone ever tried to kill you?” I have to speak loudly over the music.

Pri turns around and closes the bedroom door, muting the music a bit.

“Kill me? Ain’t nobody rolling up in this house to kill anyone.”

“I know. We made it so. Me and my mother. Every day we asked the lwas to protect our family in Detroit and their house,” I say, adjusting my bra.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Pri/Princess François (speaker), Donna/Primadonna François, Chantal François, Matant Jo François, Manman/Valerie Toussaint
Related Symbols: The House at 8800 American Street
Page Number: 76
Explanation and Analysis:

Cher Manman,

I see you clearer now because I light my candle and pour the libation, rattle the asson, and ring the bell to call all my guides, the lwas. You’ve told me that they are here for me. All I have to do is call on them so they can help me. I believe you, Manman. Even without you being here to hold ceremonies with drummers and singers and a village of followers, I will practice all that you’ve taught me.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Manman/Valerie Toussaint
Related Symbols: The House at 8800 American Street
Page Number: 63
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

“Leg. Bad,” I say loud and clear, because I now see him for who he is—the old man at the crossroads with his hat and cane and riddles come to open doors for me. He is the lwa who guards the gates to everything good—to everything bad, too. “Bad. Leg. Legba. Papa Legba.”

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Bad Leg/Papa Legba
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“On American Street, I will live with my aunt Jo and my cousins, and go to school, and have a cute boyfriend, and keep my mouth shut because in Haiti I learned not to shake hands with the devil. But on Joy Road, I will tell the truth. The truth will lead to my happiness, and I will drive long and far without anything in my way, like the path to New Jersey, to my mother, to her freedom, to my joy. Which road should I take, Papa Legba?”

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Kasim, Dray, Bad Leg/Papa Legba, Manman/Valerie Toussaint, Detective Shawna Stevens
Page Number: 112
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 13 Quotes

Then I begin to see him for who he really is. Dray, with his sunglasses even as night spreads across the sky, and his gold cross gleaming, and his love/hate for my cousin, reminds me of the lwa Baron Samedi, guardian of the cemetery—keeper of death.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Donna/Primadonna François, Dray, Bad Leg/Papa Legba, Baron Samedi
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

But I don’t want to look like a church lady. I still want to look...good. So I take off my mother’s church dress and put on a plain sweatshirt that belongs to Chantal and a pair of new jeans. I wear the Air Jordans that Pri picked out for me, but I keep my hairstyle. Now I don’t look so...Haitian. So immigrant.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Pri/Princess François, Donna/Primadonna François, Chantal François, Manman/Valerie Toussaint, Ezili/Ezili-Danto
Page Number: 138
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

“You did well in Haiti with my money. You think I was going to let my sister rot in the countryside with a new baby in her hands?”

“We prayed for you. When I was a young girl and I couldn’t even understand anything, I knew that it was my job to pray for my aunt and cousins because it was the only reason my papers said that I am American. We were grateful for that, not just for the money.”

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Matant Jo François (speaker), Manman/Valerie Toussaint
Page Number: 165
Explanation and Analysis:

“Matant Jo,” I say. “Bad Leg at the corner, he’s not just a crazy man. He is Papa Legba and he is opening doors and big, big gates. I will show you. I promise.”

She turns to me. “Child, this is Detroit. Ain’t no Papa Legba hanging out on corners. Only dealers and junkies. You don’t know shit. But don’t worry. You’ll figure it out.”

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Matant Jo François (speaker), Bad Leg/Papa Legba
Page Number: 166
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

This is a makeshift altar for Ezili with all the things she loves in the world. My whole body tingles when I realize what’s happening.

Again, Papa Legba has opened another door. How could I have missed this? Of course, I need Ezili’s help, too. And she’d been right under my nose, working through Donna with all her talk about hair, jewelry, clothes, and beauty.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Donna/Primadonna François, Dray, Bad Leg/Papa Legba, Ezili/Ezili-Danto
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 21 Quotes

I used to stare at that address whenever those white envelopes with the blue-and-red-striped edges would make their way to our little house in Port-au-Prince. I’d copy the address over and over again, 8800 American Street, because this house was my very first home. But for three short months only. This house is where I became American. This house is the one my mother and I prayed for every night, every morning, and during every ceremony: 8800 American Street.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Manman/Valerie Toussaint
Related Symbols: The House at 8800 American Street
Page Number: 214
Explanation and Analysis:
The Story of 8800 American Street Quotes

So in 2000, Jean-Phillip François, the Haitian immigrant and the first occupant to actually land a job at a car factory—the Chrysler plant—paid the city three thousand dollars in cash for that little house on American Street.

And maybe because the little house had been revived with the sounds of babies and the scent of warm meals and love and hopes and dreams, Death woke from its long sleep to claim the life of Haitian immigrant and father of three Jean-Phillip François with a single bullet to the head outside the Chrysler plant.

Death parked itself on the corner of American and Joy, some days as still as stone, other days singing cautionary songs and delivering telltale riddles, waiting for the day when one girl would ask to open the gates to the other side.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint, Matant Jo François, Bad Leg/Papa Legba, Phillip/Jean-Phillip François
Related Symbols: The House at 8800 American Street
Page Number: 219
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

We are all in white. Even Pri has shed her dark clothes and now wears a white turtleneck and pants. I had wrapped my cousins and aunt in white sheets after making a healing bath of herbs and Florida water for each one, and let them curl into themselves and cry and cry. This is what Manman had done for our neighbors who survived the big earthquake. The bath is like a baptism, and if black is the color of mourning, then white is the color of rebirth and new beginnings.

Related Characters: Fabiola Toussaint (speaker), Kasim, Pri/Princess François, Donna/Primadonna François, Matant Jo François, Dray, Manman/Valerie Toussaint
Page Number: 321
Explanation and Analysis:
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Vodou Term Timeline in American Street

The timeline below shows where the term Vodou appears in American Street. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7
Dignity and the American Dream Theme Icon
Spirituality Theme Icon
...Manman crying and wonders why Manman is being punished. Maybe it’s because she’s a mambo—a Vodou priestess—or maybe it’s because Fabiola let a boy touch her the night before they left.... (full context)
Chapter 23
Spirituality Theme Icon
Family and Loyalty Theme Icon
...When they both emerge, Kasim catches sight of Fabiola’s altar. Fabiola explains that she practices Vodou, and that their lwas are like spirit guides. Kasim shares that he grew up Muslim... (full context)
Chapter 27
Spirituality Theme Icon
Family and Loyalty Theme Icon
Identity and the Immigrant Experience Theme Icon
...that she’ll stay home if Fabiola says to. Pri scoffs, but Fabiola tells her that Vodou is real, not the “voodoo” of movies. Donna puts a hand on Fabiola’s cheek, whispers,... (full context)