Darling is a ten year old girl living in an unnamed African country,
probably based on Zimbabwe. She spends her days with a group of friends,
children like her who have had their homes, schools and families destroyed by
poverty and political violence. Unsupervised, they spend their days playing
rough games, vandalizing property and stealing fruit from the trees in a
wealthy neighborhood. Despite these activities, the essential innocence of the
children is apparent in Darling’s telling of the story. Darling likes to brag
to her friends that she will one day be joining her Aunt Fostalina in America
and enjoy the all the benefits of life in that country. As a teenager, Darling
does join her aunt in “Destroyed,” Michigan but the benefits she envisioned
elude her. She misses the companionship of close friends because Americans
choose isolation in their homes and apartments in front of televisions and
computers. They don’t face hunger, but Americans either gorge themselves into
obesity or starve themselves in order to be thin. School is not challenging and
available jobs are menial and low-paying. Higher education is financially out
of reach. Eventually Darling does make some American friends, but in place of
running wild through the countryside, they watch pornography on the internet,
drive illegally and hang out at the local mall. Darling misses the family and friends she
left behind in Africa but is unable to return and probably would no longer fit
in if she could. Between two cultures, she faces a future of loneliness and
dreams denied.
