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El Chacal
Beto is a 10-year-old migrant from Tijuana. Even though he already lives on the border, he has heard that it is better to cross at Nogales, so he ends up on Lydia and Luca’s train. Talkative and charismatic, he likes to make people laugh; many describe him as a payaso (“clown”). Beto’s speaks an anglicized Spanish, and Luca has trouble understanding him sometimes. Beto has had a hard life: he lived in the dump and witnessed a garbage truck crush and kill his older brother, Ignacio. Soon after, his mother also died. Beto charms the coyote, El Chacal, into taking him across the border, even though he is a child, and pays his own way. He then covers the difference when Lydia is short the money that she owes. Beto is asthmatic and periodically puffs on an empty inhaler he carries in his pocket. Because of this, the trek through the desert is especially challenging for him; he wheezes constantly, and eventually he dies. The group reluctantly leaves his body behind in the desert, but El Chacal promises to return for it later.
Beto Quotes in American Dirt
The American Dirt quotes below are all either spoken by Beto or refer to Beto. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 26 Quotes
[Beto’s] a philosopher, she thinks. He’s rough, but he means what he says, and his openness is a provocation. Despite everything, he likes being alive. Lydia doesn’t know whether that’s true for herself. For mothers, the question is immaterial anyway. Her survival is a matter of instinct rather than desire.
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Beto is talking beside her. “I heard if your life is in danger wherever you come from, they’re not allowed to send you back there.”
To Lydia it sounds like mythology, but she can’t help asking anyway, “You have to be Central American? To apply for asylum?”
Beto shrugs. “Why? Your life in danger?”
Lydia sighs. “Isn’t everyone’s?”
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Beto Quotes in American Dirt
The American Dirt quotes below are all either spoken by Beto or refer to Beto. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 26 Quotes
[Beto’s] a philosopher, she thinks. He’s rough, but he means what he says, and his openness is a provocation. Despite everything, he likes being alive. Lydia doesn’t know whether that’s true for herself. For mothers, the question is immaterial anyway. Her survival is a matter of instinct rather than desire.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Beto is talking beside her. “I heard if your life is in danger wherever you come from, they’re not allowed to send you back there.”
To Lydia it sounds like mythology, but she can’t help asking anyway, “You have to be Central American? To apply for asylum?”
Beto shrugs. “Why? Your life in danger?”
Lydia sighs. “Isn’t everyone’s?”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
