Consequences…
It’s hard not to be a drunk when you don’t have a job I guess. That’s how Manny surely must see it. His father was at Rico’s one night doing the usual, drinking, talking with some pal’s, and swallowing some of that libation which can surely kill your brain cells. It must do exactly that, because most drunks can’t keep a straight face, and on top of that, walk in a straight line. I have also seen cases were the drunks are irascible, and Manny’s father was surely one of those people. Alcohol, or no alcohol, he was easily angered. While Victor, Manny’s father, kept on wasting every single cent he had in the bar, the rest of the family was at home, getting prepared to eat. The family was about to begin their feast, but then Manny’s mother, Rebecca, decided to go get Victor. Manny stood beside his mother as she went to go get Victor, which showed a sign of maturity. Knowing that his father was probably not going to like being embarrassed by a female telling him to go back to his house, he still wanted to see all go down. When they got to Rico’s, Rebecca searched around for Victor. She found him, in the male’s bathroom of course. Manny described his father as a man who seemed to be untouched, and proud, as if he had his chest out when he walked out of the bathroom. It’s as if the entrance of his wife to tell him to leave the bar didn’t faze him at all. Victor didn’t leave the bar though, he decided to stay there, and Rebecca went back home with Manny. In the meantime, Victor decided to come back home, to only realize that his wife wasn’t there. Now, he was extremely mad about his wife embarrassing him in front of his friends, though she did not intend to do so. He went around looking for his rifle, and when he got it, he began his other hunt: searching for bullets. Victor had told Manny that he was going to shoot his mother, and try to expunge her from the face of the earth. Manny’s words just went through on ear, and out through the other when he was trying to appease him. It’s hard to pacify someone who is drunk to begin with! Once Victor found the supplies he need (the rifle and some bullets), he began his hunt. He went to Rebecca’s friend’s place, that’s where Manny told him that Rebecca was before Manny knew that he was out to kill his mother. Victor found Rebecca, and just chased her around the neighborhood with a rifle in his hand. They ended up in their house after all the chasing was over. By this time, the police was well on their way. When the police arrived, they were able to tell what was going on fairly easily, and Victor’s gun was taken away from him. Victor was then arrested a few seconds after for being is possession of a non-registered firearm. The family didn’t know when he was going to be released, because Rebecca was not going to pay the bail. Manny noticed that his father’s arrest didn’t affect the family as much, but the person who was extremely affected by this was Pedi. When Victor was arrested, Pedi immediately burst into tears. Manny noticed she needed to be comforted, so he stepped up to the job, and acted like an adult as he pacified his little sister.
Life for Manny couldn’t get any worse, but it eventually did. His father was released from prison, and he still couldn’t believe his mother didn’t wise up to leave him. When Victor came back, Rebecca and he immediately began to hug, and say promises to each other. They took turns saying promises. Promises like, I’ll actually get a job and not just look for one (Victor said this). After that first night, things were back to normal: Victor’s tyranny began to set in place once more as he ordered the children around, and did nothing himself. Manny’s grandmother died (from his mother’s side) soon after his father was released from prison. Rebecca was extremely heavyhearted when her mother passed away. Like any other caring daughter, she cried, and cried, and eventually just stared at the ground, motionless, and emotionless.
Some time had passed, probably only a few days, and Magda had a date with her boyfriend. It was safe for her to leave the house, because Rebecca was over her mother’s place, cleaning the house and packing stuff. As for Victor, he was at Rico’s again. Magda wanted Manny to look over Pedi for her, so he did. As for Magda, she soon left the house with her boyfriend who was ready to begin smooching with her by the tree. While Magda was out, Manny got a hold of Victor’s rifle. He examined it, and wondered why his father loved it so much, but he couldn’t find the answers to his own questions. He then took a look then the long, cold barrel of the rifle and saw the last thing he wanted to see for as long as he lived: Pedi. The gun fired, Pedi fell back, and she must have been dead. As Manny recalled, the way she fell back, it was without a doubt that she was dead. There was no way in the world she could have survived, it was at POINT BLANK RANGE! Suddenly, Pedi began to cry, to his relief, he then laughed, and he immediately knew that she couldn’t be crying if he hit her from that close up. Manny’s lucky he’s the worse shooter in the world, because if it wasn’t for his lack of skill, his sister would have had a whole as big as an apple through the center of her face.
Quotation: “He [Nardo] didn’t know why Grandma would want to leave a message for me, but the dream sounded like a warning. I would die alone, he predicted, in a very cold place” (Martinez 86).
Reaction:This quote seems to foreshadow how Manny is going to die. Though, I still don’t know if Manny is going to die or not in this novel, but I can assume that he’s not. The reason why is because the story is told in a first person POV, so, it’s not possible for the narrator, to tell the story, if the protagonist is already dead. The narrator probably can, but it will just be awkward. Thus far, we have seen conflict arise in the novel. The major type of conflict in man vs. man: this is when the father is struggling with his drinking problem. Manny’s desire’s are vague at this point of the story; all we were informed of was that he wanted a baseball mitt at the genesis of the novel.
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