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The Shot Heard Round the Cul-de-Sac
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. Once a month, Uno’s father, Senior, comes to have lunch with Uno. Senior now lives in Oxnard with his Black wife and their new baby. Senior drives to Uno’s house, and they walk to a restaurant down the street. Their lunch this month, Senior lectures Uno about the fights he’s been getting into. Aside from punching Danny, Uno beat up another boy at the mall and spent the night in jail. When Uno’s mom came to pick him up, he overheard her telling the officer that she didn’t want to take Uno back.
2. As they walk back from restaurant, Senior tells Uno that doctors try to control kids by putting them on pharmaceuticals. Senior wears Dickies and Timberlands and always looks clean and composed. Senior has a prominent scar on his face, which Uno’s mom says is from his own father beating him. She also tells Uno that Senior used to be a criminal. Uno has a recurring nightmare about a faceless man who has a giant scar just like Senior’s chasing him.
It's not clear if Senior is talking about pharmaceuticals because someone suggested prescribing them to Uno, or if it’s just a passing thought he has. Senior’s fear about doctors exerting control over kids links him to Uno and Danny—Danny uses baseball to feel in control, and Uno struggles to control his violence. Each of these characters either needs or fears losing control. Uno seems to value and respect his father, but his recurring nightmare might suggest that he fears Senior in some way.
Themes
3. Senior continues to complain about pharmaceuticals, explaining that rich white people make money off of prescribing them and that white aristocrats don’t care about people of color. He says that he’s been reading a lot lately and that his house is full of biographies. Senior tells Uno that he used to get in trouble too, but that was because he didn’t love himself at the time. Now, as an adult, he takes pride in his work. Uno doesn’t understand the connections among all the things Senior is telling him.
Senior seems knowledgeable and philosophical, but he often rambles and changes the subject nonsensically. Senior wants to help Uno by imparting wisdom, but Senior doesn’t speak in very concrete terms. It’s clear that Senior is suspicious of white people.
Themes
4. Senior asks about Manny, and Uno says Uno’s mom and Ernesto put him in a home for kids with disabilities. Senior thinks this is “bad business.” He forces Uno to look him in the eye, then he tells Uno that he loves him. He stresses the importance of faith, adding that Jesus felt powerless, just like he and Uno do. He makes a deal that if Uno can make $500 over the summer, he can come live with him in Oxnard. Uno’s mom Loretta hears this from inside the house, and she and Senior get into a vicious argument, screaming and cursing as Senior gets in his car to leave. Loretta reminds Uno that he barely sees his dad, while she is there for him every day.
That Senior doesn’t want to send Manny away shows that Senior values being close to family. Senior seems to have a troubled past, but it’s not clear what his past entails. Senior and Loretta have a contemptuous relationship, but it’s not clear what caused them to separate. It’s ironic that Loretta doesn’t want Uno to go to Oxnard since she recently said that she doesn’t want Uno to live with her anymore. It’s possible that Loretta just doesn’t want Uno to live with his dad because of Loretta’s personal resentment of Senior. Overall, Loretta doesn’t seem to give Uno the parental support he needs to thrive.
Themes
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5. Uno walks around the neighborhood and considers his options. He resents that Uno’s mom insults Uno’s dad so much, and he feels trapped between his parents. He considers that he’s in the middle of a battle between Black and Mexican. He decides that he should go to Oxnard. He throws a rock through a window, setting off an alarm. Uno laughs as he runs away, thinking that someone will soon chase after him, but no one comes looking.
Senior’s new wife is Black, and Loretta’s husband is Mexican, so both Uno’s parents have new families with people of their own respective races. Furthermore, at various points in the novel Ernesto uses racial slurs against Black people, and Senior disparages Mexican people. All this contributes to Uno’s complicated feelings about his racial identity. It’s strange that Uno laughs instead of feeling scared when he thinks he will get in trouble for breaking the window. In a way, it seems that he wants to get into trouble. This, and the fact that he breaks the window at a time when he’s feeling anxious, suggests that causing trouble may be a coping mechanism for Uno.
Themes
