Lupita Manana

Salvador, Lupita’s 15-year-old brother, is a huge influence in his sister’s life. This is in part because, once they leave Ensenada, the two have no one else to turn to. To Lupita, Salvador, whom she loves deeply, appears larger than life. Lupita takes little notice of the demeaning way Salvador often treats her, which occasionally includes physical abuse. This story could be said to tell the story of Lupita finally breaking free of Salvador’s arbitrary dominance.

Beatty depicts Salvador as the stereotypical mid-adolescent boy. He tends toward grandiose bragging and posturing. He is not particularly highly regarded by adults in Ensenada outside of his family. When Captain Ortega refuses to give him his father’s job, it is only partly because Salvador has caught the eye of his daughter Dorotea, who is secretly spending time with him. Indeed, Ortega twice calls him “vago,” a slacker. Salvador hangs out doing nothing with other boys his age who have a hard time finding real work.

At the same time, Salvador takes responsibility seriously. Though he dislikes the idea of caring for Lupita, he gives in to his mother’s wishes and lets her accompany him to the US. He is serious about protecting Lupita, even though he finds her silly and resents her optimism. While he is an easy mark for the smooth-talking, flashy Lucio, Salvador loves his sister and never forgets his family ties. It is those ties that force him to heed his Aunt Consuelo’s demands to take Lupita to the dance.

Though actively involved in the narrative for only three chapters, Carmela’s presence remains in Salvador and Lupita’s responsibility to support her from afar. Her life goes from manageable to helpless in an instant because of her husband’s death. Illiterate, destitute, saddled with six children, and without significant assets, Carmela has to employ the only resources available to her: her adolescent children. Her plan works because she has instilled a sense of duty in them.

An examination of the life of Carmela is a study of surviving in the face of despair and scarcity. The first example of her desperation comes when she sends her son Salvador to seek out the man in Ensenada who hates him the most to ask for the very job that was responsible for her husband’s death. The second example is her willingness to take a loan against her home that will result in its forfeiture in a year with no clear source of money for repayment. Third, she sends her two oldest children to the United States with nothing more than a bag of food, a few pesos, and the address of a sister she has not seen in 20 years. All these grave decisions are made within a few hours of learning of her husband's death. Carmela demonstrates strength in the face of extreme adversity by not surrendering to the grief and hopelessness of the situation. Instead, she makes the ultimate sacrifice as a mother by letting her children go off by themselves into known dangers and uncertainty, hoping that the lessons she has raised them with will be enough to sustain them and allow them to succeed in the plan to save the family.

Carmela’s sister Consuelo demonstrates unexpected character growth at the midpoint of her life. When Consuela first appears, she has been physically and mentally beaten down by life. The romance she had with the athletic, charming Hermilio Ruiz has deteriorated with his bad health and constant drinking. Like her sister, Consuelo has six kids and nothing extra in her life. She is able to endure only with la ayuda, US welfare dollars. A sign of her marginal existence comes when, upon first sight of Salvador and Lupita, she asks her niece and nephew for a dollar to provide breakfast for her family. When Consuelo works, it is the backbreaking labor of agricultural harvesting.

Consuelo’s attitude toward her sister’s children shifts throughout the narrative. At first, she sees them as two more hungry mouths she cannot feed. Shortly afterward, however, she recognizes them as a potential source of income. It is not long before she gains a genuine admiration for Lupita. She offers her maternal advice and consolation in the face of Salvador’s abandonment. Finally, Consuelo sees herself living again vicariously through Lupita—a young girl who has come to the US from Mexico with endless possibilities before her. She recognizes that Lupita, who is no dreamer, is taking steps to become self-reliant, and she will offer Lupita the guidance and support she needed and never received when she first arrived in the US.

If Salvador embodies the stereotypical mid-adolescent Mexican boy, Lucio certainly embodies the stereotypical flashy, Americanized pocho. Extraverted, perpetually over-dressed, over-confident, and brimming with machismo, Lucio is adored by his peer group and endured by his elders. Lucio presents himself as the man with all the answers, though in his case there are not many tough questions. He objectifies women, resulting in his extremely demeaning attitude toward Lupita.

To Lucio’s credit, he does recognize familial responsibility, showing respect and care for the adults in his family. He is musically apt and demonstrates at the end of the novel that he possesses the potential to rise above the shallow player he is throughout the narrative.