Caroline's Wedding Summary

The narrator is Grace. Grace, born in Haiti, has just been given her naturalization papers as an American citizen. She is excited to tell her mother (Ma), who thinks being an American can lead to "boundless possibilities." They celebrate with bone soup, a Haitian dish Grace and her American-born younger sister Caroline only tolerate. All three women live together. Caroline was born with only half of a left arm. Ma believes this deformity is due to a shot she received from a doctor to calm her nerves when she was arrested during a sweatshop immigration raid.

After dinner, Grace talks with Ma. Ma hopes her bone soup, which she believes has a healing power, will cause Caroline to realize she should not marry a Bahamian man named Eric. Caroline is currently Eric's fiance and will soon be married. Ma objects to...