Mexican WhiteBoy

Uno is at first Danny’s antagonist. He is a year older than Danny and is one of the neighborhood boys living in el barrio. Like Danny, he is also biracial. His mother is Mexican and his father is black. Uno is visibly different because he is described as black, but because he has grown up in National City, he speaks Spanish and is integrated into the mostly-Mexican community. Uno is the alpha of the boys. He is the biggest, most athletic, and the best at stickball. When Sofia enters Danny into the neighborhood stickball game, Uno is immediately threatened by Danny’s talent, seeing Danny as a threat to his currency as the top player. Uno harasses and then severely beats up Danny, sending him to the hospital.

Uno lives with his mom and her husband, Ernesto, who dislikes Uno. Ernesto is heavy handed and verbally abusive. Uno’s mother, wanting peace, urges Uno to abide by Ernesto’s rules. Senior, Uno’s biological father, has become involved in Uno’s life and wants his son to move in with him and his new family in Oxnard. This gives Uno some hope and motivates him to work toward a goal. This incentive, combined with Uno’s newfound respect for Danny and his natural aptitude for the hustle, not only helps the boys earn money but leads them both to a place of hopefulness.

Senior is Uno’s biological father, and as a product of National City himself, he has experience with the effects of violence and drug abuse. He was not a good father to Uno as a child, but Senior has reformed himself through reading and religion. He lives is Oxnard, is employed, and visits Uno regularly. He has lengthy conversations with Uno in an effort to educate him. Senior wants nothing more than to make things right with his son. He asks Uno to come live with him in Oxnard and gives Uno the goal of earning $500 as a deposit. Senior empathizes with Uno but challenges him to take charge of his destiny. He plants a seed in Uno when he asks, “You wanna evolve, son? Or you wanna stay the same?” (35). Senior tells Uno he has purpose and choices beyond those right in front of him. Senior’s wisdom guides Uno, who in turn guides Danny. Senior also interacts directly with Danny and acknowledges Danny’s pain in a way no one else has.

Sofia is Danny’s cousin on his father’s side. She is only one year older but has significantly more life experience. She lives with her father, Danny’s Uncle Tommy, and his wife, Cecilia. Sophia has almost no memory of her mother, who she says left her as a baby and died of an overdose years later. She considers Cecilia her mother and the two have an amicable relationship, though it is not looked at in depth. She is happy to have Danny, her cousin from Leucadia, living with her for the summer, and she welcomes him into her world, acting as a proud, caring big sister. Aware Danny lives a more sheltered life, she is protective, but she also takes joy in showing him the ropes of being seventeen in her world. Sofia knows the truth about Danny’s father, and though she does not reveal it to him, she stays close to him as he grapples with the realities of the situation. She is equal parts strong and tender. She convincingly threatens Uno, but she is also the character who shows real compassion to Danny. She physically embraces him, crying with him in his darkest moments.

Sofia is intelligent and has grown disillusioned with her life in National City. She in no way looks down on her upbringing or her peers, but she knows her future is limited there. As summer is coming to an end, Sofia tells Uno she feels she’s being left behind. Danny and Uno are both leaving and it causes her to question why she is there. She wonders what she is supposed to be doing, what her purpose is. Uno suggests she go to college, become “a lawyer or somethin” (211). She laughs at the apparent absurdity of such a prospect then shares with Uno a recent epiphany: that she, like all children, had once been full of hope, but it’s disappeared. Uno disagrees with her. He sees her differently and believes in her.

Wendy is Danny’s mother. She is white and Danny resents her for it. Throughout much of the novel, Danny wants nothing to do with his mother or anything she stands for, if for no other reason than because she is not his father. Presumably, Wendy is from a modest background, as indicated by her wide-eyed look at life in San Francisco. As a single mother, she is alone in raising and providing for two children. Money is surely tight, yet she gives Danny what she believes to be the best opportunities. She moves Danny and Julia to Leucadia. Moreover, she secures a scholarship for Danny to attend a private school and funds his baseball. Wendy experiences intermittent bouts of depression. She has witnessed, and perhaps experienced herself, the violent behavior of Danny’s father, and now watches the effects his incarceration is having on her son. When she meets Randy, who is generous, successful, non-violent and genuinely caring, she thinks her troubles are behind her. Through her relationship with Randy, however, Wendy learns her happiness is not rooted in a man, in money or in opportunity, but in time spent with her children. To that end, she returns to San Diego vowing to make things different and better for her family.

Liberty is Danny’s age. He notices her when he arrives in National City and is enchanted by her for the entirety of the novel. Like Danny, she is of mixed ethnicity; Liberty is from Mexico and has a Mexican mother, but her father is American and Caucasian. He has secured her arrival in the United States but is not part of her life. Liberty is attracted to Danny and the two form a connection. Although they do not speak the same language, this mutual affection is communicated.

Javier is Danny’s father. He is incarcerated for assault. He left Danny three years prior without being truthful about where he was going or when he would be back. One could surmise he genuinely cares for Danny because he enlists a friend from prison, the man Danny mistakes for a baseball scout, to follow Danny around and make sure he is safe.

Uncle Ray is Javier’s younger brother. He is also violent, but as family, he is charged with watching over Danny and keeping him safe. Ray threatens Uno on Danny’s behalf, but the real impact of Ray on Danny is through hisbrutal and senseless murder of the homeless man in the parking lot. Though Ray loves Danny, his behaviors are actually what give Danny clarity about his misguided need or desire to live as a Lopez in National City.

Danny assumes the big Mexican man who appears at various locations around San Diego wearing a Padres cap is a baseball scout. Danny first sees him in Leucadia and believes he is there to watch Kyle Sorenson, but when he spots him at the field in National City, it’s clear he is “scouting” Danny. The truth is revealed when Danny sees the man selling hot dogs at Petco Park. The two finally speak and Danny learns that his father has saved this man’s life in prison, and in return the man has promised to watch over Danny until his father is released.

Kyle is the star of Leucadia Prep’s baseball team, a standout talent who is expected to be drafted by the MLB upon graduation. In Danny’s eyes, they are opposites. Physically, Kyle is a man, tall and strong, with the Scandinavian attributes the name would suggest. Kyle epitomizes having it all, at least in Danny’s eyes. He has what Danny most wants. Not only is he a remarkable athlete, but he is the son of a man who is present and supportive, a man who cheers in the stands and has influence over the coach. Because Kyle represents everything Danny is not, and does not have, he is not seen in a positive light throughout most of the book. In the end, though, Kyle comes through for Danny at an important moment. Kyle’s actions show how much he respects Danny’s talent and determination, leaving the reader to examine what it was that was ever objectionable about Kyle, and whether or not his negative attributes were largely in Danny’s mind. He both inspires Danny and reassures him of his talent.