43 pages • 1 hour read
Javier ZamoraSolito
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Nature
Nature is a broad term used to indicate specific aspects thereof that feature symbolically in the memoir. Early on in the book, the natural elements described are used to designate home, specifically edible plants, vegetables, and fruit that are unique to El Salvador and Central America. As Javier travels further from home, however, the landscape and vegetation increasingly take on a more sinister, foreign nature. The cacti, for example, are menacing because they represent danger and bodily harm. As Javier becomes more accustomed to the new terrain, the cacti take on a friendly nature, especially the saguaro cacti, which look to him like people. With regard to the protective aspects of nature, a lizard emerges when Javier and the others are being searched by soldiers. He names the lizard Paula. Her presence helps Javier focus his attention on his commonalities with nature and forget the fearful and demeaning treatment he and the others endure at the hands of other humans.
Borders
The political and physical borders separating countries are the most obvious borders Javier must overcome to reunite with his parents, but there are other, metaphorical borders he faces as well. One of these borders is the one separating children from adults, especially boys from men. Before Javier begins his journey to the US, he is immature even for a nine-year old. He cannot swim, cannot tie his shoes, and is afraid of using the toilet. Part of the memoir involves Javier’s coming of age and his transition from child to young adult though his age never changes. With his grandpa’s help, Javier first crosses the personal border of using the toilet like and adult. He then crosses the emotional border of his fear when he boards the boats to Mexico, knowing that if he fell in the water, he could not save himself. Marcelo represents something of a border guard and allows Javier to cross into maturity by calling him a veteranito, or veteran. Javier then feels more grown up and more part of the group afterwards. Moreover, the geopolitical borders between countries (and between Mexican states in Mexico) represent internal borders Javier crosses in his journey towards maturation.
El Cadejo
It is Javier Zamora’s grandpa who first teaches him about the legends surrounding cadejos. In Central America, a cadejo is a supernatural spirit that takes the form of a dog, and depending on the culture, may have characteristics of deer and goats. White cadejos are protective spirits, while black cadejos are considered evil. Javier’s grandpa tells him that a good little white cadejo (or cadejito) is with him. For Javier, the cadejo provides him not only with ties to his grandpa, who was his protective companion for the first leg of his journey, but also with a tie to his origins in El Salvador, which is one source of the cadejo legend.
Javier’s attitude toward the cadejo mirrors his journey from innocence to experience. At first, he believes in the cadejo despite his lack of evidence: “I listen for him at night. But nothing. No whistles. No bright red eyes like coals burning. But that’s okay. Grandpa said most people don’t ever see their cadejo” (79). Later, however, his attitude changes, reflecting the anger and pessimism he feels at being deported: “Last time, I listened for Cadejo’s whistle; now I know for sure he doesn’t exist. […] If Cadejo was real, we wouldn’t have gotten caught” (323).
