In Lysley Tenorio's collection of short stories, Monstress, characters in each story suffer from their lives, yet they find the motivation to hope and chase their dreams. Most of them are Filipino-American immigrants who are seeking the American Dream with their fantasy inference. Most immigrants are influenced by a fantasy, the life that they believe America has offered. Their dreams of a fantasy world are a way to comfort and escape their unpleasant pasts, but they lead them to chase unreal desires. In particular, this is true of Felix Starro in "Felix Starro" and Isa in "L'amour, CA" who have come to America hoping to obtain freedom. Since both have been struggling with their lives in the Philippines, they are motivated by the fantasy of America. Throughout their stories, they emphasize the process of transforming their personal life and making the decision to pursue American freedom. However, they both realize the huge sacrifice they have to pay in order to achieve freedom. In both stories, Lysley Tenorio uses diction and transformation of behavior of the two characters, Felix Starro and Isa, to illustrate the harsh impacts of an unrealistic pursuit of freedom. Ultimately, the misconception of American freedom leads them to pursue freedom through a fantasy, which damages their family relationships and personal life.
In "L'amour, CA," Tenorio shows the price Isa is willing to pay to achieve freedom through her physical and mental change. Early in the story, Isa loves America so much that she is willing to be called "bitch" as long as it's "American bitch" (Tenorio 196). Isa begins to change slowly as the author reports her wearing make-up to school in the first day. Through the narrator's voice, Tenorio says, "her eyelids are as blue as our toothpaste, her cheeks so pink I think rose petals have melted into her skin" (200). Isa's first change shocks her mother when she reacts, "[she] put her hand on Isa's check, wipes off makeup, and then rubs it between her finger as if it were a strange kind of dust" (200).
