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Danny’s Return to the Mound
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 no longer has trouble controlling his pitches, and he and Uno successfully hustle four more batters. Now, Danny is getting lunch with Uno and Senior. Danny notes how similar the two of them look. Senior tells the boys that he recently caught “some Mexican kid” breaking into his house on his way home from church. He says that when he was younger, he would have attacked the kid, but he doesn’t act that way anymore.
Danny is struck by the similarities between Uno and Senior, and this evokes the idea that personal identity is partially informed by inherited traits. It seems disparaging that Senior included “Mexican” as a descriptor of the kid who broke into his house—Senior seems not to register that both Danny and Uno are Mexican. Danny and Uno’s identities are both complicated by the racial tension between their parents.
Themes
2. Before lunch that same day, Danny and Uno won thirty dollars by hustling a wealthy white boy on a travel team. They saw the scout with the Padres hat, and Uno asked him if he works for the Padres. The scout said he did. Danny struck out the batter quickly, and Uno suggested that Danny play down his pitching skills when he faces a new batter, so that they will be willing to bet double or nothing.
The scout’s explanation that he works for the Padres seems to confirm that he is indeed a scout, but his behavior is still odd. This scene is also an important moment in Danny’s character development: he longer has trouble controlling his pitching.
Themes
3. Now at lunch, Senior is explaining to the boys that instead of beating up the kid who tried to rob him after church, he brought him inside to talk. Senior told the kid that he used to be a criminal too but that he didn’t know who he was at the time. He told the kid that Uno was the reason he turned his life around. The kid said that his girlfriend was pregnant, and he was scared. Senior forgave the kid and gave him some money, and the kid cried and apologized for breaking in. Uno questions why Senior would give away money so easily, and Senior replies that money has no value anyway. Uno disagrees.
It’s ambiguous whether Senior’s story is true. In asking Uno to make $500, Senior appeared to be trying to teach Uno that he must work hard for money, and his sentiment here that money has no value contradicts that previous stance. Still, Senior has clearly changed drastically over the last few years, and he wants to instill his values of faith, family, and generosity in Uno. Even if Senior exaggerates the truth, his intentions are good.
Themes
Senior and Uno turn to Danny for input on the topic, but he doesn’t speak. Senior says that Danny doesn’t have to speak, and that listening can be better. Senior sees that something profound is troubling Danny. Danny wonders how Senior knows that he is constantly thinking and wondering about Danny's own dad. Senior says that though everyone has a piece of God in them, Danny has “the biggest piece [he’s] seen in forever.” Though Senior seems a little bit crazy, Danny feels that Senior is the first person to understand him.
Danny imagines that Senior can see Danny’s inner thoughts and feelings, but Senior does not really know that Danny is thinking about Javier. Senior has struggled with his own self-image and identity, so perhaps his experiences allow him to recognize when others are wrestling with similar issues.
Themes
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