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Uno’s Big Talk with His Mom
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. Later, in August, Danny is at his grandma’s house. He’s so familiar with the house now that he can identify everyone’s laughs and footsteps and the smells of different foods cooking in the kitchen. His cousins Sofia, Vanessa, Jesus, and Mario are all there, as are Tommy and Cecelia. Something happened the day before that he can’t stop thinking about—images of blood and Ray’s car flash through his mind. Ray arrives to the house to talk to Tommy, and Danny eavesdrops from a bedroom.
Danny is generally much more comfortable around his extended family now than he was at the start of the novel. In this moment, though, he seems distressed. The nature of the incident that Danny can’t stop thinking about is left ambiguous.
Themes
2. The day prior, Danny is at home with Sofia when Ray comes to take Danny shopping with Rico and Tim. The four of them ride in Ray’s Bronco, and the men chat about women. When Rico and Tim start to playfully harass Danny, Ray orders them to stop. On their way back home, a “white dude” (as Ray puts it) on a bicycle hits the side of Ray’s car. Ray and Rico get angry, and Ray turns his car around to face the man on the bike. The man dismounts his bike and walks toward the car.
Again, Ray makes it apparent that he genuinely cares for Danny. Ray wants to spend time with Danny, and he protects Danny from Rico and Tim’s harassment. Based on the outset of the incident, it’s not clear whether the cyclist is actually at fault for hitting Ray’s car, but Ray blames the cyclist. Because Ray points out the cyclist’s race, it’s possible that Ray is angry just because the cyclist is white. This is mirrors Javier’s pattern of getting disproportionately angry at white people.
Themes
3. Now, in Danny’s grandma’s house, Ray recounts the story to Tommy. Ray says the man seemed to be on drugs and was coming toward the Bronco. Ray tells Tommy that he hit the guy with his car and that Danny was there for it. Tommy is outraged, and he's especially mad that Danny was in the car. He says that Javier wanted to keep Danny away from trouble. Watching from the bedroom, Danny notices that Ray looks a lot like Javier. Tommy yells that Ray is just the same as Javier. Danny replays the incident mentally, but with his dad driving instead of Ray. He recalls all the details Ray left out of his account to Tommy.
Danny is coming to understand that Ray is capable of egregious violence—and that Ray is similar to Javier.
Themes
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4. Back in the car the day before, Rico is screaming at Ray to hit the man walking toward the car, while Tim advises Ray not to. Ray goes forward and hits the man, who falls to the ground. The man gets back up and approaches the car again, trying to punch Ray through the open window. Ray, Rico, and Tim hold the man down and beat him, battering his face and ribs until he stops moving. There is blood everywhere. Danny envisions Javier being there and recognizes the crazed look in Ray’s eyes. Ray runs over the man now lying in the street, and Danny vomits.
This scene is extremely disturbing and graphic, but neither Ray nor Danny outwardly expresses much emotion. Ray seems to act without thinking, and Danny seems too shocked to react. Danny realizes that Javier is capable of the same level of violence that Ray displays. After Ray runs over the man, it seems likely that the man is dead, but this is not explicitly clear.
Themes
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