Previous
Chapter 16
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Bronx Masquerade, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Poetry, Healing, and Identity
Race and Prejudice
The Value of Community
Growing Up and Familial Expectations
Summary
Analysis
Lupe, another student in Mr. Ward’s class, thinks about how many people attend Open Mike Fridays. Other students regularly skip class to take part, though Mr. Ward sends them back when he finds out. Lupe also contemplates her home life. She cares more than anything about her older sister, Christina, and her niece, Rosa. However, she does not get to see them as often as she would like. Lupe still lives at home with her mother and her mother’s new husband. Lupe does not like her stepfather and wishes her biological father was still around instead. She dreams about moving out and having a child of her own, though she has yet to find a suitable husband or even a consistent boyfriend.
The popularity of Open Mike Fridays suggests the event is resonating with students in a way that their other schoolwork never does. Meanwhile, Lupe is unique because, unlike many of her classmates who were forced to grow up to fast, she wants to grow up very quickly. Though Lupe means well, and her goals are reasonable, she romanticizes motherhood in a way the novel suggests reflects her immaturity.
Active
Themes
