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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. Danny and Uno are at Morse High to hustle Carmelo. They’re just warming up, but Danny can already feel that he’s not in control of his pitches. Though he’s physically pitching the same way he does in the park, now he can’t predict where his throws will go. Uno winks at Danny and starts insulting Carmelo’s batting skills. He bets $20 that Danny can strike Carmelo out. The other team bets another $20, and Uno puts the $40 in a hat.
2. Danny gets ready to pitch. He knows the problem with his control is psychological, but he doesn’t know how to solve it. He looks around the field and notices the scout in the Padres hat. Danny is surprised that the scout always seems to know where he is—he frequently watches Danny at the park, too. Strangely, the scout never stays more than a few minutes at a time. Danny throws the ball, and it goes over Carmelo’s head. He makes two more bad pitches, and on his fourth pitch, Carmelo hits the ball.
Danny now refers to the man as “the scout,” but it’s pretty clear at this point that there is something else going on with this man. As Danny predicted would happen, he loses control of his pitching and doesn’t strike out Carmelo. Danny’s loss of control seems to be related to the anxiety he often feels about how others view him, since it never happens when he’s alone.
Themes
3. Danny and Uno lose the bet, and Carmelo and the Morse High kids leave with the money. Danny apologizes to Uno, but Uno isn’t angry. He repeatedly asks Danny what happened, but Danny shrugs and doesn’t answer. Uno says that moving to Oxnard isn’t “meant to be,” and they head off to catch the bus home.
Uno’s attitude about moving to Oxnard embodies his general view about his future. Uno is pessimistic, and he assumes that he won’t have many opportunities to succeed. He thinks that the circumstances he was born into (his race and socioeconomic status), have doomed him to a future with no opportunity for advancement.
Themes
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