Tumble

“A jobber puts over the other wrestler […]. It means his job is to lose and make the other guy look good […]. He’s not a heel nor a face. Not a bad guy and not a good guy.”

In the opening scene of the book, Addie watches a lucha libre match that Manny is fighting in as “The Eagle.” The Eagle always loses, and Alex explains to Addie this is a function of him being a “jobber.” This accomplishes three things: It establishes the context and importance of lucha libre to the story, it demonstrates how the wrestling world has fixed roles, and it foreshadows Addie eventually meeting and learning who “The Eagle” really is—as both a man playing an ambiguous role in a wrestling match and as a man who plays an ambiguous role as her biological father.

“Mom hung each year’s photo on the same wall in the living room. She used a ruler to make sure the photos were even and then had me stand back with her to check that nothing needed adjusting. We had a tumbleweed snowman photo on the wall for every Christmas. Or at least that’s what I’d always assumed.”

Addie reflects on the annual Christmas photo and how she eventually realized that the one from her first year of life was missing. The tumbleweed photograph is an important recurring symbol, serving as a connection between Addie and her paternal family. This passage demonstrates Lourdes’s careful and meticulous nature, which can border on controlling, and emphasizes her outward desire to create a picture-perfect family for her daughter.