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Along for the Ride
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Mexican WhiteBoy, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Race and Identity
Fate vs. Opportunity
Violence, Power, and Coping Mechanisms
Coming of Age
Family, Friendship, and Culture
Summary
Analysis
1. Uno and Danny do push-ups in the park, and Uno senses that something is wrong with Danny. Uno considers that Danny is sick of him, since his baseball skills are mediocre in comparison to Danny’s. The two of them have grown close over the summer, even though Danny barely talks. Uno looks over the field they work out on and thinks its state embodies National City— “forgotten” and “abandoned.” Uno’s highlights of the summer have been the days he spent with Danny on the La Palmas field, though.
Uno’s attitude has completely flipped since the start of the novel. Whereas he once arrogantly mocked Danny, now Uno feels inadequate in comparison to Danny. Uno and Danny grow to understand each other partly out of their shared experience of feelings like outsiders in the community. Thus, the attributes that once came between them end up bringing them together in friendship.
Themes
