This Is My America

Time is an important motif throughout the text. Tracy states in the opening line of the text: “Time runs my life. A constant measuring of what’s gone and what’s to come” (3). This preoccupation with time began with the wrongful conviction of her father, and increases the closer time draws to her father’s execution date. Tracy’s concerns about time and its implications for her father’s death directly affects her life. She has trouble focusing on what she wants in her life beyond her father’s release. Tracy finds herself unable to focus on her own future goals or plans because she feels suspended in liminality since Daddy’s conviction and sentencing. Tracy remains hyper-present because each day that passes is one day closer to her father’s execution date. It is not until the end of the text that the binds of time release Tracy and her family: “It’s over. The clock has stopped. We can stop living our life counting the days, counting the time between Saturday and Monday visits” (384). With her father’s freedom secured, Tracy and her family are free as well.