The First Rule of Punk

The candy necklaces worn by Selena and her friend group are symbolic of mainstream, American consumerist pop culture. They are superficial, ersatz, and cheap. They are easily obtained and easily discarded. Further, they are at once a status symbol and a weapon: It seems to be only Selena’s clique that wears or is perhaps allowed to wear the necklaces, and the group wields their status by at moments utilizing the necklaces as missiles aimed at Malú and her friends. Most importantly, the candy necklaces represent neither Chicanx culture nor DIY/punk culture; indeed, it would be fair to deem the necklaces as the antithesis of both.

The first time a candy necklace makes an appearance in the novel is in Chapter 6; this is also when the reader meets Selena Ramirez for the first time. Selena is chewing on the necklace as she talks to Malú; that is, Selena is literally consuming the item that perhaps most defines her aesthetic. In Chapter 16, Selena and her clique approach Malú and Joe; Malú states that they resemble “a pack of clones that escaped from Willy Wonka’s factory” (134). This description serves to dehumanize Selena’s group, making them that much more plastic and homogenized. In Chapter 24, the candy necklace is made into a weapon and thrown at Malú and Joe as they talk. Finally, in Chapter 28, after Selena discovers the flyer for the Alterna-Fiesta that Joe’s left in the copier, Malú imagines “pouring her bottle of water on [Selena] and watching her melt, like the Wicked Witch of the West, until there was nothing but a pile of clothes and a candy necklace” (232).

Malú loathes cilantro. For her, the herb tastes soapy, and she does all she can to avoid it. While many people enjoy cilantro, a small percentage of the world’s humans harbor a genetic factor in their olfactory-receptor genes that makes the herb repugnant. (The celebrated chef Julia Child was one such person.)

Cilantro is a common component of Latin cuisine; the fact that Malú vehemently dislikes it makes her self-conscious and pushes her farther away from the Mexican American portion of her identity. Early in the novel, she picks cilantro out of her guacamole, and later, at Sunday dinner at Oralia’s, it’s again mentioned that Malú dislikes cilantro, in addition to spicy food, both of which alienate her, at a gustatory level, from her Mexican roots and reaffirm her diverse background (those of Caucasian and Asian descent are more likely to harbor the gene that makes cilantro taste soapy).