Under The Mesquite

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2011

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Chapters 1-6

Part 2, Chapters 7-12

Part 3, Chapters 13-23

Part 4, Chapters 24-33

Part 5, Chapters 34-40

Part 6, Chapters 41-47

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Family is the Most Important Foundation

Family is one of the most prescient themes in Under the Mesquite. Family informs identity of the characters, the major conflict of the plot, as well as the source of inspiration for the story. Family presents the first obstacle of the story: Mami’s first cancer diagnosis. Through this family issue, the narrator Lupita comes into her own. As the eldest child, she feels the responsibility of leadership, and she takes care of her mother the way Mami takes care of her children.

The influence of her father on her writing, as well as her mother on her acting, drives Lupita to seek dreams and opportunities as though a promise for a better future has always been the family’s goal. At first, Lupita believes that she works hard for the sake of her family, but by the end of the novel, she discovers that the commitment to her family teaches her self-respect and confidence.

Lupita’s family is large and extremely close. Her parents encourage their children to be friends with one another, and although Lupita’s relationships with her siblings can be strained, the same closeness that promotes tension also promises unconditional love and support. This results in several moments where Lupita finds support in her siblings, from Victoria helping her practicing her lines to Paco helping keep her siblings fed while their parents are away.

Lupita learns her sense of responsibility from her parents, who sacrifice their comfortable lives in Mexico for new and unknown opportunities in the United States. Papi keeps careful track of the family savings accounts, and Mami makes sure that her children stay connected to their religion and culture throughout the myriad changes that life brings. Without family, Lupita would not have the dreams and drive that motivate her to grow beyond her years. The biggest challenge to this theme is Mami’s cancer, but even though her death is devastating, it reminds the family that the most important foundation they have is one another.

Identity is Tied to Heritage

The family’s connection to their Mexican roots is another guiding force in their lives. Although the children are young when they move to the United States, Mami and Papi ensure that they don’t forget how to speak Spanish, and the family visits Mexico often to stay in touch with the world they left behind. McCall emphasizes this theme through the use of Spanish terms throughout the novel, demonstrating Lupita’s identity as both American and Mexican.

The importance of identity appears when Lupita strives to lose her accent for a role, and her fellow Chicana friends mock her and tell her she’s trying to be white. Lupita, however, knows that speech is not the only thing that makes her Mexican, and she tells her friends that being Mexican is about supporting one another. McCall causes the reader to question the concept of losing one’s heritage repeatedly throughout the novel, as Lupita first doesn’t want to leave Mexico, but on a later visit after acclimating to the US, finds herself homesick for the states. After the death of Mami, McCall seems to reiterate that Lupita will always be connected to her Mexican heritage when Lupita goes to stay in Mexico with her grandmother to emotionally recover. That she recovers in Mexico and not the US is poignant; while Mexico isn’t “home” anymore, it’s still a place of refuge for Lupita.

To Lupita, being Mexican is closely tied to family and community. In the first half of the book, the family’s Mexican identity is also tied to their Catholic religion as yet another environment to remember their rich history and culture. Although Mami’s cancer is the major challenge the family endures, making sure they appreciate their Mexican heritage is important to their healthy identity formation. McCall uses Lupita’s journey to show her readers that one does not need to give up their heritage in order to make space for other identities. Instead, Lupita discovers that her Mexican identity provides her with a foundation that can keep her peaceful, thoughtful, and motivated when other foundations crumble.

Coming-of-Age and Adapting to Change

As typical of a coming-of-age novel, or bildungsroman, Under the Mesquite presents many changes and challenges for the main character. First, Lupita reluctantly moves to the United States and must adapt to a new language and culture. She finds English to sound “hollow,” preferring her native Spanish, and she at first believes that she will no longer find sunflowers; if she does, they won’t understand her when she speaks to them. The underlying idea here is that Lupita fears she will lose the magic of her Mexican language and heritage by adapting to a new culture. By calling English hollow, she suggests that her own language has depth and warmth. The sunflowers won’t understand her because, in Mexico, the flowers seem supernatural, but in the US, she suspects they will be plain, inanimate objects. Lupita soon changes her mind, as her mother’s rose garden becomes a source of comfort and “magic” for Lupita, even though it is in the US. Likewise, she finds meaning in the Mesquite tree that grows in the garden, as she and McCall liken it to Lupita in its upward growth and resilience.

Lupita also adapts by changing her accent for a part. Though she’s initially met with resistance from her immediate community, she now recognizes that things do not have to stay the same in order for her to find connection with her heritage. Without a Mexican accent, she is still a part of the Mexican community.

Mami’s battle with cancer presents the biggest changes and the most difficult problems for Lupita to navigate. These adaptations are what most develop Lupita’s character, as she changes from a child dependent on her parents to a young woman looking after her siblings. When Lupita assures her father that she can take care of the house and family on her own while Mami seeks treatment in another city, she doesn’t recognize the insurmountable task she has taken on. She says of raising her siblings, “Mami made it look so easy” (105). Accepting a task thoughtlessly then struggling to overcome it is a coming-of-age trope, as is the fact that Lupita does overcome her task in the end, and her perspectives change as a result.

The final change that hastens Lupita’s growth occurs after her mother’s death when Lupita is in Mexico. Her grandmother suggests that sometimes it’s best to start all over again. This lesson on change helps Lupita realize that not all change is good, but it is what we do with change that shapes our character. She severs her final ties with her childhood—her home and her father—and sets off for college.