The Wind Knows My Name

The novel’s predominant protagonist, Selena Durán undertakes a form of the hero-quest, in which she has a specific mission to complete. She works with the Magnolia Project, founded by Nadine Leblanc to help those seeking asylum in the US, and her goal is to find Marisol Díaz, Anita’s mother, to reunite them and help them secure asylum in the US. Selena is engaged to Milosz Dudek for most of the novel, but this romance is less than ideal, as Milosz has controversial views on immigration, which conflict with Selena’s job and desire for justice. She ultimately foregoes her relationship with Milosz in favor of dating Frank Angileri, but their romance is secondary to Selena’s quest to find Marisol.

Selena’s purpose is to present a dedicated ally to the cause of immigration reform, and she provides key information on the ways that the US fails to protect and properly handle people arriving at the Southern US border. However, Selena likewise comes from a family that has experienced the trials of immigration: Her great-grandmother, Mamagrande, entered the US without authorization with her daughter, Dora, decades earlier. Selena’s family history thus unifies her with people coming to the border in the novel’s present day, allowing her to converse in Spanish and empathize with their struggles. Her role in the novel develops as she strives to complete her quest to find Marisol, which slowly transforms into a quest to help Anita. Her ability to help Anita then comes to represent the more general possibility of resolving the refugee crisis through empathy and effort.

In addition, Selena presents a strong female character in a story focusing largely on the specific, gendered violence that women endure both within and around the journey to the US. Her family of “immortal” women shows the power of feminine strength and bonds, allowing her to balance her personal and professional life, as well as giving her the ability to connect with women trying to immigrate into the US. Her desire to be a lawyer is a key element of her character development, because she doesn’t want to depend on other people in the process of helping children like Anita, even as she begins a relationship with Frank, who is already willing and able to perform that legal role.

A secondary protagonist in the novel, Leticia Cordero also has importance to the narrative that shines in how Allende positions her relative to other characters, specifically Samuel and Anita. Like Mamagrande, Samuel, and Anita, Leticia experienced violent oppression as a child that took away her life as she knew it. The El Mozote massacre, though not a large part of her adult life, is a critical influence on her character development because she struggles to maintain any connection with her heritage. In this sense, she’s most like Samuel, who lost his heritage during the Holocaust. However, in the present day, Leticia is apathetic toward politics, and her initial reaction to Frank’s phone call asking about Anita is to hang up on him. Although the novel never depicts Leticia as developing an active interest in politics, she becomes personally invested in Anita’s life, in essence assuming a mother role for Anita after Marisol’s death. This dynamic not only gives Anita critical support in overcoming her trauma but also allows Leticia to provide the sense of family that she was denied when her father brought her to the US, as she notes her father’s distance after the journey.

Leticia’s role in the novel is that of a more grounded person with a connection to the turmoil at and south of the Southern US border. Although she has a personal connection, she doesn’t have Selena’s dedication, but this doesn’t detract from Leticia’s importance and value in the novel. Her apathy toward politics reflects a common attitude toward government, civics, and charity among many people, and her presence is crucial in showing how exposure to a crisis or traumatic incident can spur bystanders into action. Once Leticia learns of Anita’s situation, she, like Samuel, becomes dedicated to helping Anita. Suddenly, Leticia cooks Salvadoran foods, effectively reclaiming a portion of her heritage, and she uses her knowledge of Anita’s culture to help her overcome bedwetting and anxiety.

Despite her predominance in the plotlines and each character’s story, Anita Díaz is essentially a supporting character in the novel. She’s a Salvadoran girl whose mother, Marisol Díaz, brought her to the US to escape persecution from Carlos Gómez, a mass murderer who specifically targeted women and children. Anita was in a car accident at a young age, which not only killed her sister, Claudia, but also affected Anita’s eyesight. After Marisol and Anita’s arrival in the US, Marisol is deported, while Anita tries to survive various detention centers and foster homes before eventually moving in with Samuel and Leticia near the novel’s end. Her experiences are emblematic of many children who are separated from their families at the border, and her narrative supports those of the other characters, many of whom are focused entirely on supporting and helping her.

Anita isn’t a protagonist because her actions in the novel have more to do with how other characters determine their actions around her than with her own character arc. However, Anita is essential to the novel’s message about both the resilience of children and the power of imagination, each of which helps Anita survive and thrive within her challenging circumstances. Her eyesight, though impacted by the accident, is still sufficient for her to function in unfamiliar environments, and her love of reading and music identifies her as a precocious child. Her frustration at being placed in a lower grade while in foster care also shows her desire for growth and self-improvement despite the setbacks she experiences. As the novel progresses and Anita receives support from more people, she develops her ability to express herself and her emotions, ending the novel with hope that she can overcome and resolve her trauma.

Central to Anita’s story is her powerful imagination, which is realistic enough to warrant her fantasies being at least partly true. She has created a fictional land, Azabahar, which is a star that she can visit with her guardian angel’s help. It functions much as Anita describes it, as it’s like heaven without the requirement of death for entry. In Azabahar, no conflict exists, and everyone is polite to one other, forming a perfect opposite to Anita’s early life experiences. In the end, Anita invites living people, such as Samuel, to Azabahar, reflecting her acceptance that reality can be as pleasant as Azabahar. Likewise, Anita often speaks with her dead sister, Claudia, which Samuel accurately notes is a means to hold onto the memory of her lost sibling. However, as Anita adjusts to a happier life with Samuel and Leticia, she feels the need to speak with Claudia’s “ghost” less frequently.