Previous
Symbols
In Have You Seen Us?, the “missing persons” mailing card symbolizes the transformation of protagonist Henry Parsons over the course of the play, from a prejudiced man callously uninterested in other people to a man seeking out human connection. The play’s first reference to the mailing card happens when Mexican sandwich-shop waitress Adela Venegas asks Henry about the paper object he’s using as a bookmark. Henry explains that he receives “missing persons” mailing cards in the mail—and, rather than look around for the missing people, he stacks the cards on his desk and uses them as bookmarks. Henry’s repurposing of the mailing cards shows that he cares more about books than about people, callously uninterested in the human suffering that the mailing cards represent.
Yet after Adela spins a speculative story about the woman and girl on Henry’s “bookmark” mailing card, casting the woman as a righteous Mexican immigrant mother who steals her daughter back from an abusive husband after a racist U.S. court system awards him custody, Henry becomes unwillingly interested in Adela and her Mexican national pride. When he asks her whether she’s homesick, the question opens a newly personal and vulnerable dialogue between Henry and Adela, who previously hated and humiliated each other for sport. At the play’s end, after the sandwich shop has closed and taken away Henry and Adela’s one point of contact, Henry admits to the play’s audience that he looked for Adela, wanting to befriend her, but he couldn’t find her without a photo to put on a mailing card. Nevertheless, he quotes the mailing card’s question—“Have You Seen Us?”—and says, “I like to believe I did.” With this statement, Henry suggests that his vulnerable dialogue with Adela taught him to recognize her humanity in a way he initially saw no one’s humanity. Thus, the mailing card helps symbolize Henry’s transformation, through his interactions with Adela, from callous and remote to open to human connection.
Mailing Card Quotes in Have You Seen Us?
The Have You Seen Us? quotes below all refer to the symbol of Mailing Card. 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:
).
Have You Seen Us? Quotes
Adela: I’m telling it. So you listen and learn, gringo. Husband is beating wife, Adriana. Right? Wife calls police and wants divorce. Okay? Next stop: court case. Police and husband tell lies in court but judge believes him because they all gringos and husband is Vietnam vet. Verdict? Court gives baby Isabella to husband. They call it American justice. But not end of story because now comes Mexican justice. Beautiful Adriana waits for time when little Isabella is playing in the street. Adriana walks—very easy, like you know—to Isabella and says . . . “Hey baby! Come with Mama! We go eat ice cream.” . . . And off they go.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Henry has brought a book to the sandwich shop where Adela works, and Adela notices that he is using a “missing persons” mailing card as a bookmark. In response to Henry’s callous lack of interest in the missing woman and girl on the card, Adriana and Isabella Larrañaga, Adela insists on narrating to him a whole speculative story about how Adriana and Isabella came to be missing. Adela’s speculative narration reveals her pessimistic viewpoint on U.S. culture: “American justice” involves white male “gringos” on the judicial bench and on the police force showing racist, sexist, anti-Hispanic solidarity with a “gringo” Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit alias. In et eveniet. Eaque
Henry: [T]hat was another terrible yearning . . . watching people live their lives . . . and understanding what those lives were all about. I can’t do that here in America. I understand nothing. When I stand on a street corner here in America I feel I don’t even speak the same language. Back there it was different . . . I knew them all . . . I knew their stories . . .
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Here, Henry is explaining to Adela the “terrible yearning” for South Africa he used to feel when he first moved to the U.S. Specifically, he felt a “yearning” to “watch[] people” and immediately “understand what [their] lives where all about,” something he pronounces that he “can’t do” in America but could do in South Africa. It's ambiguous whether the audience should take Henry as a reliable narrator here. Through Henry’s callous use of the “missing persons” mailing card as a bookmark, he has already revealed himself to be uninterested in the lives of people around him in the U.S.—a lack Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur
Henry: I get it now. When I first walked in here last Christmas and you saw another borracho perdido . . . and you saw Roberto. Right?
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Henry has asked Adela whether she sees him as an alcoholic lost cause, and she revealed to him that her former romantic partner Roberto was exactly that. He promised her that he would change and stop drinking, but eventually Roberto just abandoned her instead. When Henry replies, “I get it now,” it marks another important turning point for his character in two ways. First, Henry has previously stated that he doesn’t understand anyone in the U.S. While Henry seems to attribute his lack of understanding to cultural differences between the U.S. and South Africa, the audience may have wondered whether Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Dele
Henry: Two very lost old people from the look of things, don’t you think? I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t get a “missing persons” card in my mail next week with their pictures on it. “Have You Seen Us?” Oh yes! I have not only seen them, my dear Adela, what is amazing is I also happen to know them.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Elderly Jewish immigrant couple Solly and Rachel have entered the sandwich shop where Adela works, asked whether the shop sells chicken soup, and left upon learning that the answer is no. Afterward, Henry pronounces to Adela that the couple’s sudden appearance is “amazing” because he “happen[s] to know them.” Henry is referring to an incident on Christmas Eve several months prior, in which Henry casually wished Solly and Rachel a “happy Christmas” outside the sandwich shop and Solly gently informed Henry that he and his wife were Jewish. Here, Henry is an unreliable narrator: he claims to have seen Solly Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi
Henry: It’s my one and only souvenir of Adela, and what happened to me that night. Remember it? “Have You Seen Us?”
It’s a good question. I like to believe I did.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
In the play’s epilogue, which takes place about two years after the play’s main events, Henry directly addresses the audience, revealing that he never saw Adela, Solly, or Rachel again after the dramatic evening that constitutes the majority of the play’s action. Several weeks after that evening, he returned to the sandwich shop with a gift for Adela only to find that the shop had closed. As such, the “missing persons” mailing card that he and Adela discussed that night is now is “one and only souvenir of Adela.” Previously in the play, the “missing persons” mailing card symbolized Henry’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earu
Get the entire Have You Seen Us? LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Mailing Card Symbol Timeline in Have You Seen Us?
The timeline below shows where the symbol Mailing Card appears in Have You Seen Us?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Have You Seen Us?
...him along with coffee. While “looking for an opening,” she sees that he’s using a mailing card for a bookmark and examines it. When she asks what it is, he—“hoping to catch...
(full context)
...and Adriana’s opponents in the story are all men and “gringos.” Speaking directly to the mailing card , Adela warns Adriana not to return to the U.S. When Henry points out that...
(full context)
Adela, indicating the mailing card , asks whether Henry’s wife fled with his daughter. Henry says no: his wife did...
(full context)
...that they seem quite confused and that he wouldn’t be surprised to receive a missing-persons mailing card with their photos—but then he clarifies that it’s “amazing” that he knows them: last Christmas...
(full context)
...to find her, he didn’t have a photo of her to make a “missing persons” mailing card . To demonstrate what he means, he takes out a mailing card from the book...
(full context)
