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Senior Reads Danny’s Mind
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 warm up to re-challenge Carmelo at Morse High. Uno reminds Danny to go easy at first to build Carmelo’s confidence. Danny has struck out every player since their first attempt at Morse High, and Uno realizes that Danny’s pitching is truly exceptional. He’s confident that Danny will end up on a Major League team, and Uno feels lucky to know him.
Uno has now come a long way from needing to be the best baseball player. The fact that Uno can feel happy for Danny suggests that Uno is developing a healthier self-image and no longer bases his worth on how he compares to others.
Themes
2. Danny pitches a fastball that hurts Uno’s hand through his mitt, and Carmelo acknowledges that Danny has gotten faster. Uno then motions for a curveball outside the strike zone, and Danny delivers it perfectly. Carmelo strikes out and offers to put in twenty dollars more to try again. He’s sure he can make a hit the second time. Uno agrees to the bet. Looking around, he notices that no one else is there besides him and the other players—not even the Padres scout. 3. The second time around, Danny pitches three perfect fastballs and strikes Carmelo out again. Uno can tell that Carmelo is unhappy. As Uno tries to take the money, Carmelo says that they want to try again and bet more. Carmelo yells at his teammate JJ to get cash from the ATM. Carmelo and his teammates stay quiet as they wait for JJ.
Danny is developing a healthier self-image in the same way as Uno. Danny notices that no one is watching him pitch, suggesting that he no longer relies on impressing the people around him. Carmelo’s shift in mood foreshadows that a conflict may arise if Danny strikes him out again.
Themes
4. Each side contributes eighty dollars. Carmelo is clearly angry, and Uno tells Danny that after Carmelo strikes out, Danny should run straight for the bus stop no matter what. Danny throws two strikes. Uno notices JJ inching toward the hat holding the cash, and he yells at JJ to get away from it. After the third strike, JJ pockets the money and tries to flee, but Uno tackles him. Danny, Carmelo, and the other players all join the brawl, and they outnumber Danny and Uno. Suddenly, the Padres scout runs onto the field and attacks the other players to free Danny and Uno, yelling at them to get away.
Danny disobeys Uno by joining the fight, but this is another sign of Danny’s growth. At the beginning of the novel, Danny wouldn’t have been so audacious. The Padres scout appearing out of nowhere adds to his mystery—Danny previously noticed that the scout wasn’t around, so he must have been watching out of sight.
Themes
5. Danny and Uno sprint to get on the bus home. On the bus, Uno shouts at Danny for not listening to him and getting involved in the fight. Uno says Danny can’t get hurt because he has a bright future. Danny replies that Uno does, too, but Uno disagrees. He’ll always be on the streets, even when he moves to Oxnard. “It’s too deep,” he explains. Suddenly, a wave of joy comes over him as he realizes that he almost has $500. He watches the bus pass by graffiti and homeless people and feels like he’s no longer a part of the poverty he’s surrounded by. He starts to understand what Senior means when he says people can change.
Uno now vacillates between optimism and pessimism about his future. His comment about things being “too deep” implies that he feels restricted by his circumstances, but he has a sudden and drastic change of heart just moments later.
Themes
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