Chapters 13-16 Summary

Caught between the social classes are a population of Haitians who have carved out a place for themselves as stonemasons, dressmakers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, and others who had been in Alegria for generations and had established themselves as more than the lowest labor. They make up a middle class that keeps trying to find a secure place within the social status of the nation in which they live. Amabelle meets up with some of these people as they are walking their children to the tiny, overburdened school started by two priests. They are complaining that although their children were born in the Dominican Republic, the government will not give them "papers" to attend a decent school.

The discussion turns to human rights and the lack of any rights for the Haitians regardless of their status in the community or the length of...