I desired a little more...
I have just finished reading "and the shadows took him" and I have to say that I am rather disappointed by the ending. It seems to me that in general a novel usually has some closure to it. This story however was left very open ended and I can't help but wonder why. There are so many questions left unanswered, all I can think is that the ending has been left open in anticipation of a sequel. Aside from the ending the story itself was quite engaging. The characters were develped well, the story flowed well and was easy to follow along with.
I found it interesting though that in the beginning of the story it seemed as though the main focus was not just on Joey, but that there was a spotlight on William as well. William seemed to be almost the main focus of the story as narrated by Joey, but in the later half of the novel, William was almost non-existant. Not only this, but there was also a major spotlight on how poor the family was, how food was such a precious commodity, and how Joey was thrilled to be able to experience dining at a restaurant in the first half. In the second half of the story, food lost it's place as a focal point, and seemed to become something that was just there, and had little significance to the Molinas and the story itself. The only exception to this that I saw was when Joey made the comparison of his hot dog burrito to Billy's hot dog on white bread.
I thought that this comparison really illustrated how immigrants become part of american society. While both the Molina boys came from the exact same backgroud, the paths they chose to take once they arrived in Medford were completely different. On one hand, Billy seems to embrace his new peers and way of life takes on the common characteristics of the local culture. He becomes more of a cowboy and finds himself with a white girlfriend. Even though he comes from a poor minority family he finds himself fitting in with his new surroundings. Then on the other hand, Joey decides to avoid his unease at being the new guy at school by pretending to be hard-core and so finds himself holding fastly to the culture that he witnessed but was never a part of in Fresno. He does this just as his father did by painting his Fresno house pink like he says they commonly do in Mexico. William tries to demonstrate his cultural heritage, but he himself has never been to Mexico, he has never truly experienced that which he bases his decisions on.
The way the men of the Molina family respond to changes within their social status and local demographic can be paralleled with the way in which immigrants respond to the same factors. Immigrants and the families of immigrants want both the merge with society, to take on local customs, and to maintain a sense of identity by holding onto their cultural heritage. They want to fit in, without giving up what they know and love. But in the end the path they choose, the white bread, or the tortilla, the meat will still be the same inside.
I found it interesting though that in the beginning of the story it seemed as though the main focus was not just on Joey, but that there was a spotlight on William as well. William seemed to be almost the main focus of the story as narrated by Joey, but in the later half of the novel, William was almost non-existant. Not only this, but there was also a major spotlight on how poor the family was, how food was such a precious commodity, and how Joey was thrilled to be able to experience dining at a restaurant in the first half. In the second half of the story, food lost it's place as a focal point, and seemed to become something that was just there, and had little significance to the Molinas and the story itself. The only exception to this that I saw was when Joey made the comparison of his hot dog burrito to Billy's hot dog on white bread.
I thought that this comparison really illustrated how immigrants become part of american society. While both the Molina boys came from the exact same backgroud, the paths they chose to take once they arrived in Medford were completely different. On one hand, Billy seems to embrace his new peers and way of life takes on the common characteristics of the local culture. He becomes more of a cowboy and finds himself with a white girlfriend. Even though he comes from a poor minority family he finds himself fitting in with his new surroundings. Then on the other hand, Joey decides to avoid his unease at being the new guy at school by pretending to be hard-core and so finds himself holding fastly to the culture that he witnessed but was never a part of in Fresno. He does this just as his father did by painting his Fresno house pink like he says they commonly do in Mexico. William tries to demonstrate his cultural heritage, but he himself has never been to Mexico, he has never truly experienced that which he bases his decisions on.
The way the men of the Molina family respond to changes within their social status and local demographic can be paralleled with the way in which immigrants respond to the same factors. Immigrants and the families of immigrants want both the merge with society, to take on local customs, and to maintain a sense of identity by holding onto their cultural heritage. They want to fit in, without giving up what they know and love. But in the end the path they choose, the white bread, or the tortilla, the meat will still be the same inside.
posted by Jeremiah Stoker at 12:20 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah, I can't say that I loved the ending either. Perhaps, if you're able to make it to the author's discussion on March 28th, we could ask him about his reasoning to end the book like he did.
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