The Symbolism of Papa Legba in "American Street"

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 I believe that American Street by Ibi Zoboi is one of those novels that begs to be read twice.  The novel absolutely drips with foreshadowing, especially within the dialogue of the character Papa Legba.  Some of these hints toward future disaster are obvious to us, the readers, but are lost on Fabiola in the moment that she hears them.  However, other hints from Papa Legba at first just seem like pure nonsense.  In my post, I want to talk about one instance of Papa Legba's foreshadowing, and why it seems like Fabiola, despite putting huge amounts of faith in Papa Legba, one of her lwas, to show her through, doesn't stop to consider the deeper meaning behind what he is singing and how it might impact the decisions that she can make.  

Here, I will examine one of Papa Legba's songs, which are full of forewarning, as well as Fabiola's response to it and why she might have reacted that way.  

This is what he sings right after Fabiola has recognized him as Papa Legba, "the keeper of the crossroads, the one who will open the gates for my mother" (Zoboi 82).

"Pull up a chair, let's have a meal,

Shuffle them cards, let's make a deal.

I'll give you the key and set you free, 

Be right here waiting for just a small fee. 

Beware the lady all dressed in brown, 

Don't even know her way downtown." (Zoboi 83-84).

As outside observers who have read the rest of the events of the novel, we as readers can examine this song now and see within it a forecast of the events which unfold within the rest of the book.  However, it is important to recall our initial reaction to reading Papa Legba's song, when we as readers were unaware of the future, just as Fabiola is in the moment that she hears his song.  

I recall being confused about what his song might mean for Fabiola, but a couple lines stood out to me as things to look for within the rest of the text.  First, he offers to make a "deal" with Fabiola, but he requires "just a small fee" from her.  This made me fear for what Fabiola would have to sacrifice in order to get her mother back.  Secondly, he warns heavily of "the lady all dressed in brown," so I knew to look for a figure like that in Fabiola's near future and to be wary of her actions.  In fact, the "lady all dressed in brown" is referenced in a prior song of Papa Legba's, right before Fabiola recognizes him as an lwa.  This is one of the few instances where Papa Legba repeats a line of his song twice--which means that it is likely a significant detail to pay attention to.  

My question is this:  Why didn't Fabiola consider, in the moment, more heavily what Papa Legba's song was implying?  I believe that she didn't reflect on it for many reasons: she was likely overwhelmed with her discovery that Papa Legba was the lwa that would get her mother back to her.  After all, she's been searching thus far for a sign or an answer to how she will ever get her mother back, and now that has appeared to her in the form of Papa Legba.  She was wrapped up in the elation she felt about her discovery of Papa Legba as an lwa on which she could focus all of her hope for her mother returning to her that I get the feeling that she didn't stop and think deeply about the forewarning within his song or at least commit it to her heart so that she could guard herself with it later.  

Specifically, when we meet the detective again, I noticed that Zoboi was very explicit in describing her wearing a "brown coat," which she wasn't wearing last time she talked to Fabiola (87).  She is also wearing leather boots.  Of course, this set off alarm bells in my head--she is no doubt the "lady all dressed in brown" which Papa Legba referenced in his song, who Fabiola should "beware" of.  I was surprised and a bit disappointed that Fabiola, in her considerations about whether to trust the detective, did not connect the detective to the "lady all dressed in brown" that Papa Legba stressed to her within his songs by repeating the line twice (which, as  I mentioned earlier, is a rarity for his songs).   Fabiola even recalls her interaction with the detective as her thoughts returning to "the woman with the brown coat" (94), but still does not connect it to Papa Legba's song.  Because Fabiola is putting so much weight in Papa Legba as the lwa that will return her mother to her, it definitely felt a little off-putting that Fabiola didn't stop and try to think about what Papa Legba might have her do when it comes to trusting the detective; if she'd thought of this, I believe she should have then connected his warning in the song to the detective.  I see it as Papa Legba's way of warning Fabiola against the bad fate which she suffers later in the novel, where she pays a very heavy price for Papa Legba to return her mother to her.  

I think that if Fabiola would have heeded Papa Legba's warning against trusting the "lady all dressed in brown," her story would have turned out differently.  Because Papa Legba is the "lwa who guards the gates to everything good---and everything bad, too" (82), it is implied that there is multiple paths that Fabiola could take to get her mother back: a path which leads to good, and a path which leads to bad.  Because she trusted the detective, whom Papa Legba warned against, I believe this set her on the path of suffering.  However, because Papa Legba promised that he would return her mother to her for a "small price," of course he held up his end of the deal even though Fabiola didn't heed his warning--but I can't help but wonder what Papa Legba would have had in store for her if she chose to listen to his song, to "beware the lady in brown" and therefore avoid the tragedy that followed.  It seems that Papa Legba presented her with a choice, which gives the feeling that Fabiola, although put in a seemingly impossible situation, could have chosen to listen to his warning and have then been presented with another way to get her mother back.  

Of course, the events that unfold within the rest of the novel are complex, and it is impossible to know what might have happened had Fabiola acted differently--after all, the story is written a certain way on purpose, and in this case, it was to illustrate the difficulty of Fabiola's circumstances in Detroit when faced with seemingly impossible decisions.  However, I found it extremely fascinating that although Fabiola put all of her faith in Papa Legba as the lwa who would get her mother back to her, she spends a startlingly small amount of time considering his words and what they might mean for the decisions that she makes.  This can be explained by many things, but I think above all Fabiola was so preoccupied with the hope that she would get her mother back through Papa Legba that she was simply making decisions as quickly as possible in order to achieve that goal.  I am excited to hear if others had thoughts on this as well.

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