October 20, 2013
This was yet another text assigned for my YA literature course. And so far, it's probably the best book that I've read for this class, and perhaps among one of the best I've read this year. I'd heard of the book previously, but didn't know too much about it. My course instructor told me last week that this book was controversial in Arizona, the state where I earned my undergraduate degree. Arizona (particularly Maricopa County) has become infamous for its racist policies. This book was banned in schools (I know for sure in Tucson), and according to my instructor, inspired state legislation to ban courses dedicated to Mexican-American literature, because of the popularity of this book. Can't say I was too surprised to hear it, but after reading this book, I am flabbergasted at how asinine such policies are. Did any of those fools even read this book?
In some ways, this book could be considered this generation's version of The Outsiders. No, it's not really about class warfare, per se, but there is a lot of reference to the haves and the have-nots of our society. There's also the activities of the characters (mostly teens), drinking and engaging in sexual activities (but seriously, not at all graphic is described in this book as far as that goes). And as for the drinking, well, let's not be naive here, people. Kids drink. Banning this book and others like it won't stop that. Even the violence in this book isn't too much...there's just enough of it to depict reality.
The main character, Danny, is fascinating in himself, and this book is full of likable, interesting characters. Danny is the "Mexican WhiteBoy" of the title, but he seems to be the only one who really, truly views it as being a bad thing. Though he has a point when he reflects, at one point, that he feels between two worlds, and not fully part of either. I've read other works by mixed-race authors, about such characters, and that seems to be a common feeling between them. Danny felt out of place at his mostly-white private school (I don't know if it's ever fully explained, but I think he got in there on a scholarship for his grades?), and he feels out of place with his father's Mexican family, though they're all friendly and welcoming to him. I am drawn to stories of close families, and the relationship between Danny and his cousin Sofia is especially nice to read about. She looks out for him, because she lives in a tough, mostly-Mexican neighborhood. I guess their neighborhood is called National City, and it's a suburb or subdivision of San Diego. It took me a while to figure it out, and it was driving me nuts...I'm like, I know the major cities of California, where the hell is National City?
Well, it's a beat-up place, and while Danny feels closer to his Mexican roots while he's there, his cousin and his eventual best friend are both looking for a way out. Uno, like Danny, is mixed race, but half-black instead of half-white. He's an amazing athlete, but Danny's talent at hitting and pitching blows him away. He is jealous at first, but grows to respect Danny, and then they become as close as brothers. Uno sees that Danny has a real future ahead of him; in spite of Danny's issues, he has a lot going for him with his natural baseball talent (honed throughout the summer with Uno's help) and his intelligence. Uno has had a tough past, and is looking to leave his mother's house (he is resentful of his drunk, bullying Mexican stepfather, especially of the fact that he sent his stepbrother, who is mentally handicapped, to a home) and get a fresh start in Oxnard, living with his black father and his stepmother and baby half-brother. Uno is a fierce fighter with a temper, but his good heart is clear from the beginning of the book, as his relationship with his stepbrother Manny is described.
The characters in the book look out for family and friends, and are fiercely close. It's confusing, the fact that Danny doesn't speak Spanish. This is examined throughout the book, as Danny wonders why his father (who he believes to be in Mexico, but is actually in prison on an assault conviction, a fact that was kept from him even though he was 13 at the time) never taught him any Spanish. He feels shut out form his family; plus, the girl he likes, Liberty, can only speak Spanish, having recently moved to San Diego from Mexico. Her situation is particularly interesting; I assume that her mother, a Mexican woman, had a one-night stand with a wealthy white businessman or lawyer. Liberty gets her father to sponsor her to the U.S., but she hardly has any contact with him, it seems, as he has a white family in the suburbs. She and Danny are the cutest couple ever by the end of the book, and even though Danny moves back in with his mother at the end of the book, he knows that he has deep enough roots now in his family's neighborhood that he'll be seeing plenty of her.
Sofia aspires to leave National City and attend college, being the first one in her family to do so. She comes across as being proud of being from the 'ghetto,' but she is smart and compassionate and wants more. I wish there had been some more focus on her during the book, but she is very important to Danny's story, being the first one to pull him out of his self-imposed silence. Poor Danny. Since his father left, he hasn't been dealing with it very well. He eventually clams up completely, believing that it does him no good to talk, anyway. He even self-mutilates, digging his fingernails into the insides of his arm when he's in a stressful situation. The people who care about him in National City eventually become wise to this habit, and while they don't really say anything, they show their disapproval and concern with their gestures, slapping his hands or giving him a look. After a particularly stressful scene, Danny uses a pair of tweezers to cut his arm, and Sofia discovers him in the bathroom bleeding. Though there isn't really any explicit resolution to this particular issue, it seems that by the end of the book, as Danny comes to some important realizations about his father and his relationship with him, he seems to have lost the urge to hurt himself.
It took Danny going to a seemingly unsavory neighborhood for the summer to 'save' him. His coming to himself seemed natural in these surroundings; he had friends, and family who were actually concerned for him (unlike his mother, who seemed only concerned for herself, though Danny comes to terms with some of this by summer's end as well). He has gotten control of his pitching, and is primed for a spot on his school's state-winning baseball team. There is hope for Uno, too, as he goes to live with his father, a former drug addict turned Christian philosopher. It's difficult to tell if Senior is another kook, or if he really is wise (I was leaning more towards the latter by the end of the book); Danny has the same feeling when he meets him. But it's easy to see that Uno's life, under his father's influence, will be better than it is with his emotional mother and asshole stepfather. And Sofia, going to stay with Danny, will go to a new public school in a nicer part of San Diego, and will be setting herself up to attend community college the following year. There is hope for the major characters in this book.
Since the discussion in our class always gets around to whether or not we would ever teach this book in our classrooms, I would say, absolutely yes. Perhaps not in my current teaching assignment, but if I ever found myself back in a regular public school, I would totally fit this book into my curriculum. The 'controversial' behaviors in the book are really no more shocking than what's in The Outsiders, a book typical to any 8th grade language arts curriculum. The messages of the book are positive, even if the situations are sometimes a little gritty. Arizona, on the whole, is a backwards-ass state, and I'm definitely glad that I did not end up becoming an educator there.
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| An apartment complex adjacent to Las Palmas in National City, CA. I imagine that Carmen's apartment complex is much like this one. |
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| Matt de la Peña. In the book, Danny is often admired for being "cute" by the girls in the neighborhood. I also saw that some of this book is based on the author's own experiences...obviously, part of that would be his looks. He's hot! And look at that dimple! |
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