In the middle of the book, there is a moment within one of the years described when the author’s brother passed away a few months ago, so the mother felt distanced form the father because he was full of resentment and anger, while the she, the mother, was full of sadness. The father, during the months of distancing, keeps making physical advances towards the mother, which she rejects because she feels emotionally alienated from him, so it seems. Yet all this tension comes to a head in the scene when the father is out at a bar and gets himself and his horse completely drunk. When the mother goes with the author to drag home the father and the horse, the father’s behavior is loud, obnoxious, lusty, and aggressive. He yells crude things to Lupe, his wife, begging and demanding her to dance with him, hold him, kiss him, etc. He alternatively also yells things such as “Look at your mother over there!... And what is it that I smell, it is the SMELL OF LIFE, LA VIDA, WITH ALL HER LUST AND BEAUTY - so RICH A SMELL that it brings tears to my eyes, blood to my corazon, and strength to my tanates [testicles]!’”(p.261). The mother exclaims her embarrassment and begs him to stop that behavior, but he doesn’t, in fact he continues yelling about he needs het o hold him and kiss him, instead of being cold. Finally, to quiet him, “She didn’t want to, she really didn’t, but then she went to him with open arms, too, and they drew each other close, held, and they began to kiss.”(p.263). By doing that, she is finally able to get him to stop throwing a tantrum in the bar, and leads him in his drunken stupor to the car she has outside. The conclusion of that unpleasant interaction, filled with coercive and abusive yelling and unwilling behaviors, is summed up in a last blurb at the very end of the chapter: “The next morning, my parents didn’t get up for breakfast and they barely made it to lunch. When my mother did get up, she fed her birds, and was whistling like one of her canaries. I guess that my parents were in love once again.”(p.266). The implication here is that they had sex all night long, which completely repaired their relationship so much so that the mother, who was previously sad, and un-wanting to kiss the father at all, suddenly is deeply happy so much so that she is singing like a bird. All because she spent the end of an abusive and horrifying night having sex with her utterly drunk husband. I find this so unbelievable and insulting, especially because it is never even analyzed. It’s just plopped there at the end of the chapter like it’s totally normal and acceptable. And it never comes up again after that. So here’s your message: do what your husband wants, how he feels is the only important thing, drunken abusive behavior is completely acceptable, and sex fixes all your problems, even if you don’t want to have it, so you should just do it.
