My vote for MVP of the book may not be an obvious
choice, but I believe America’s character is critical to the story -
specifically, her scene in part two, chapter, two where she finds herself alone
in the woods. I mean, while everyone is out there fighting and grinding, she is forced
to hide in the bushes. She has no money. No roof over her head. Her husband
can’t do anything right. She’s just been raped, and she’s pregnant! And it
doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better any time soon. This is why I
vote for America: It’s not because I feel sympathy for her; it’s because
I’m inspired by her faith. She deals with the adversity in her own way. When things get rough for
the other characters in the novel, they have a tendency to blame others.
Delaney becomes obsessed with Candido. Candido is more and more frustrated with
all gavachos. Kyra is ready and capable of killing anyone who gets in the way her
business dealings. There is a lot of anger to go around. It’s a rat race out
there!
But while all this is going down, America is more
“Down to Earth.” She seems to be the one who
has a special connection to who she is.
I love the scene where she is sitting there all by
herself in the shadows of the woods. It must be both frustrating and frightening . She’s tired and hungry
and hurt, and she hears something but she doesn’t know what. It’s kind of like
a dream, but it’s real – she’s staring face to face with a coyote. And instead
of screaming or panicking, “she looked at that coyote so long and so hard that
she began to hallucinate, to imagine herself inside those eyes looking out…”
America, then, in my opinion, is most valuable to
the novel because she connects us to nature. Her spirit seems to rise above all man-made obstacles. Without
her, the novel does not distinguish itself. It basically is about money and
property values and immigration controversy, things we could read about in the
newspaper on a daily basis.
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