Beli's Magic

In the Middle of Beli’s story in Bani, the news of her pregnancy excites her “This was it. The magic she’d been waiting for. She placed her hand on her flat stomach and heard the wedding bells loud and clear, saw in her mind’s eye the house that had been promised, that she had dreamed about” (136). At a young age Beli wanted to escape from her life. She didn’t know what she wanted exactly but she was dissatisfied with her dull life at the time. Beli saw a way out in marrying the Gangster with all gifts and promises, so when she heard the news of her pregnancy, it was the magic she needed to save her.

Magic has been present throughout the novel in the form of the bad luck brought on by the Fuku. In this passage however, Diaz uses “magic” as the little bit of luck Beli has been hoping for. This highlights the idea of Beli still being naïve. Up to this point, she seems to believe that if she dreams about something long enough it will happen. She believes all of the Gangsters promises and that he will marry her someday even though everyone else continue to warn her of the dangers in their relationship. In this moment, everything Beli wanted seems to be falling into place. We as readers get to see Beli one last time as the girl she was before a part of her is broken by the oppression of the Trujillo. In the pages that follow, Beli faces the reality that her magic fails to what others call a curse – the Fuku that is the reason she was arrested and beaten. Where this passage is placed in the novel helps readers to see that the Fuku is always present in the lives of these Dominican characters.