In The Moth and Other Stories one will find "The Cariboo Cafe" by Viramontes, Helena Maria, which is a short story of four lives that are interconnected. The story starts off with a young girl about the age of 6, and her little brother getting lost in the city at night. The children find themselves at The Cariboo Cafe, which is when they meet the a mother who has lost her young son during a time that children disappear without a trace. The makeshift family heads into the cafe, and the owner of the cafe immediately senses something is off about the situation, but chooses to ignore his instinct. As the story progresses the cafe owner finds out that the kids he saw had been reported missing, and makes no efforts to report his findings to the police. The makeshift family returns the following night to the cafe, and the owner decides to call the police at this time. The police arrives to the cafe, and the makeshift family starts to flee from the police; however, the attempt to escape fails, and the makeshift family is cornered. The mother is lost in the delusion that the young Macky is her son Geraldo, and she stands her ground as the police try to take the children away from her. The end of the story is a bit confusing, because it is unclear if the cop hit or shot the mother. The story comes to an end without truly explaining what happen to the makeshift family.
Human emotions are difficult to understand, because we are complex creature with the ability to reason within our own minds. Helena Maria Viramontes expresses the internal discussion of a man who has lost his family, and how he justifies turning in the makeshift family to the police.
He can't believe it, but he's crying. For the first time since JoJo's death, he's crying. He becomes angry at the lady for returning. At JoJo. At Nell for leaving him. He wishes Nell here, but doesn't know where she's at or what part of Vietnam JoJo is all crumbled up in. Children gotta be with their parents, family gotta be together, he thinks. It's only right. The emergency line is ringing. (77)
The owner of the cafe is portrayed as a man who has lost everything that made him happy, and he connects with the young boy thru the memory of JoJo. He is angry because he hates the police, and does not want to get involved; however, he once had a family, so he is well aware of the pain that comes with losing that.
The whole story is mostly written from a third person point of view, yet when the final paragraph is delivered there is a sudden change to first person. Viramontes uses this drastic change to force the readers to acknowledged that something big has taken place, and that the mother has morphed from a weak character into a fierce defender.
And I laugh at his ignorance. How stupid of him to think that I will let them take my Gerlado away just because he waves that gun like a flag. Well, to hell with you, you pieces of shit, do you hear me? Stupid, cruel pigs. To hell with you all, because you can no longer frighten me. I will fight you for my son until I have no hands left to hold a knife. I will fight you all because you're all farted out of the Devil's ass, and you'll not take us with you. (78-79)
During the final scene of the story she is completely immersed into the delusion that Macky is her missing son, yet completely ignoring Sonya who is Macky's older sister because it contradicts the delusion. The mother was driven by guilt and anger to the point that she will lay her life on the line, because she once failed as a mother to protect her young son. The sudden change of point of view expresses the growth of the character in a emotionally charged manner; furthermore, this plays into the final stages of self sacrifice as she takes on the heroic quest to protect what she once could not.
Human emotions are difficult to understand, because we are complex creature with the ability to reason within our own minds. Helena Maria Viramontes expresses the internal discussion of a man who has lost his family, and how he justifies turning in the makeshift family to the police.
He can't believe it, but he's crying. For the first time since JoJo's death, he's crying. He becomes angry at the lady for returning. At JoJo. At Nell for leaving him. He wishes Nell here, but doesn't know where she's at or what part of Vietnam JoJo is all crumbled up in. Children gotta be with their parents, family gotta be together, he thinks. It's only right. The emergency line is ringing. (77)
The owner of the cafe is portrayed as a man who has lost everything that made him happy, and he connects with the young boy thru the memory of JoJo. He is angry because he hates the police, and does not want to get involved; however, he once had a family, so he is well aware of the pain that comes with losing that.
The whole story is mostly written from a third person point of view, yet when the final paragraph is delivered there is a sudden change to first person. Viramontes uses this drastic change to force the readers to acknowledged that something big has taken place, and that the mother has morphed from a weak character into a fierce defender.
And I laugh at his ignorance. How stupid of him to think that I will let them take my Gerlado away just because he waves that gun like a flag. Well, to hell with you, you pieces of shit, do you hear me? Stupid, cruel pigs. To hell with you all, because you can no longer frighten me. I will fight you for my son until I have no hands left to hold a knife. I will fight you all because you're all farted out of the Devil's ass, and you'll not take us with you. (78-79)
During the final scene of the story she is completely immersed into the delusion that Macky is her missing son, yet completely ignoring Sonya who is Macky's older sister because it contradicts the delusion. The mother was driven by guilt and anger to the point that she will lay her life on the line, because she once failed as a mother to protect her young son. The sudden change of point of view expresses the growth of the character in a emotionally charged manner; furthermore, this plays into the final stages of self sacrifice as she takes on the heroic quest to protect what she once could not.