In The GO- Between by Veronica Chambers, being in a new world affected the story. After moving from Mexico City to Los Angeles, Camilla created her new life along with a new identity. People don’t speak the same language, they don’t think the same and they are very different from people in Mexico. Playing along with stereotypes and misunderstandings can hurt. Life in America is different than the life in Mexico.

Camilla has lived in Mexico her whole life and english was not her first language, so she had a hard time at her new school in California. Camilla may know english but she does not speak fluent english like her friends, “Tiggy sat staring at me, her chin propped on her hand. ‘I love the way you talk. It’s almost like watching a foreign movie. How long have you lived in the US? Because it sound like you’re fresh off the boat.’”(Chamber, 91). Chamber created the setting to take place in LA instead of Mexico City to have a different storyline. Not speaking the same language as the people in her school can make things difficult for her, she would feel lonely and would miss Mexico City, where everyone speaks the same language as her.

Back in Mexico, everyone knew Camilla’s parents, she had it all: money, wealth, and reputation, but when she moved to America, things were different, “I thought, ‘Oh, I get it. Financial aid. They think I’m poor.’”(Chamber, 92), people assume Camilla’s poor just because of her race.  “Willow glared at Tiggy. ‘Why are you assuming her mother is a domestic?’ Tiggy rolled her eyes. ‘Because that’s what she said right? That her mother was a maid and that she was on scholarship.’”(Chamber, 92). Camilla’s new friends thinks that her mom is a maid and that she was on scholarship, Tiggy and Willow do not think that she may be rich. They just conclude that she’s poor because of the stereotypes about Mexicans.

Some people in America are extremely racist, “Then I heard it, softly at first and then louder. That tool, Duncan, was singing something stupid to the tune of that song from West Side Story: I so happy to be in America. Crawled under barbed wire to Get to America. Everything free in America. Drug cartel no look for me In America. Smitty’s face looked as red as mine felt. I knew how some people felt about Mexicans. I just didn’t think that I’d have to face it on day one.”(Chamber, 82-83). Words can hurt and Camilla knows that because she had to face it before in LA, but instead of doing something to change what people thinks about Mexicans, she played along with it acting as if she doesn’t care. In the end her lies doesn’t just come  back to hurt her, but also the people around her that cared for her.

In LA, everything was new to Camilla, she doesn’t understand how racist people can get and that words hurt. Living in LA was a new experience, a new chance for her to forget about the past in Mexico with her failed friendship with Patrizia. Camilla’s lack of knowledge led her to making decisions she would regret later on, being new to a country is not easy. Camilla does not know how race defines them leading to broken trusts and ended friendships.