The Old Man Character Analysis

A Mexican man who guides Makina to the baseball stadium where she hands Mr. Aitch’s package to Mr. P and helps her avoid detection by the police during her journey there. He also gives her an old address of her brother’s, which turns out to literally be empty: there is no house there, just a large hole in the ground. Like Makina, the Old Man appears to get involved with Mr. Aitch and Mr. P’s criminal network out of necessity and convenience, not out of malice or for profit. Although he has lived north of the border for 50 years and seems to have a long history working in the trafficking network, the Old Man insists he is “just passing through” the United States, which reflects the sense of rootlessness and unbelonging that confronts many immigrants. In an important monologue, the Old Man uses the American obsession with baseball—a sport that can appear senseless to those unfamiliar with it—as a metaphor for American exceptionalism and hostility towards outsiders. While in some ways a version of the archetypal wise old man character who guides a young protagonist toward their goals, Herrera’s Old Man also undermines and inverts this archetype, as his form of wisdom is unsuited for his environment. He is profoundly unsure about his place in the world as a result, and he ultimately leads Makina to a dead end.