Previous
Javier Lopez
Senior is Uno’s father and Loretta’s ex-partner. He comes to National City from Oxnard once a month to see Uno, and he has a combative relationship with Loretta. He is generally polished and philosophical, often going on long-winded monologues, but he speaks cryptically, and the meaning of his lectures is lost on Uno more often than not. Senior used to live a life of crime and drugs, and he was abusive when Uno was young. In recent years Senior has turned his life around by focusing on his family and church, and now he has a new wife and baby. Senior encourages Uno to work hard and try to be successful. He distrusts white people.
Senior Quotes in Mexican WhiteBoy
The Mexican WhiteBoy quotes below are all either spoken by Senior or refer to Senior. 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:
).
Home Run Derby: Uno’s Time Has Come Quotes
Not only is Uno the only Black kid in the neighborhood—or negrito, as the old Mexicans call him (even though his moms is Mexican, too)—he’s also stronger, quicker, taller, a better fighter. It’s his time.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Spaghetti with Meatballs Quotes
As a kid he used to have this crazy recurring dream: Some blur of a hooded black man was chasing him through a dark cemetery. […] Finally he’d leap at Uno’s feet like a football player, drag him down by his ankles. Pinned to the ground, Uno would look up at where the guy’s face should have been, but there was no face. There was only this huge scar, shaped just like Senior’s […].
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Quotes
Nothing hypes him up more than when people are watching him. Especially white people. In every other part of life they run shit, just like his old man says, but not when it comes to sports.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Uno Interrupts Danny’s Workout Quotes
Like I told you, dawg, the old man was on mad substances back then. He all changed now. A cool guy. But sometimes when I walk out on this field, man, I remember that shit. The look on his face and how scared I was.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Morse High Hustle Quotes
Man, I ain’t never gonna make it to Oxnard. Shit ain’t meant to be.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Uno Gets Another Drunken Tongue-Lashing Quotes
My pops is into God, man. Jesus up in heaven and all that. And maybe he’s right. But sometimes I think maybe God’s down here. In regular everyday stuff. Like the power of a train.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
A Final Phone Call from San Francisco Quotes
I could meet Prince Charming and it wouldn’t be any different. ‘All better’ isn’t something you can find in a man.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Here I Come Quotes
We all start out believing we can do anything. Even Mexican kids that grow up here. But at some point we lose it. It totally disappears. Like me, for example. Why is that?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Mexican WhiteBoy LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Senior Character Timeline in Mexican WhiteBoy
The timeline below shows where the character Senior appears in Mexican WhiteBoy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Home Run Derby: Uno’s Time Has Come
2. Every Saturday during the summer, Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez host a “home run derby.” Players each put two dollars in a...
(full context)
Spaghetti with Meatballs
1. Once a month, Uno’s father, Senior, comes to have lunch with Uno. Senior now lives in Oxnard with his Black wife...
(full context)
2. As they walk back from restaurant, Senior tells Uno that doctors try to control kids by putting them on pharmaceuticals. Senior wears...
(full context)
3. Senior continues to complain about pharmaceuticals, explaining that rich white people make money off of prescribing...
(full context)
4. Senior asks about Manny, and Uno says Uno’s mom and Ernesto put him in a home...
(full context)
...Uno walks around the neighborhood and considers his options. He resents that Uno’s mom insults Uno’s dad so much, and he feels trapped between his parents. He considers that he’s in the...
(full context)
Uno and His Peeps Talk Summer Jobs
...comes to the door. Uno thinks about what life is like in Oxnard and imagines Senior singing in a church. The boys run into Sofia and Carmen, and Sofia tells Uno...
(full context)
Senior Explains Poverty
1. Uno is getting lunch with Senior at the barbeque restaurant. He asks Senior what will happen if he doesn’t raise $500...
(full context)
...outside, Uno watches some young kids poke at a dead possum. It’s three weeks after Senior first talked about Uno moving to Oxnard, and Uno has no leads on a job...
(full context)
...Sofia stresses that Danny is her family. Uno imagines Danny being lonely, and he recalls Senior once saying that religion taught him to be content with being alone. Uno asks Sofia...
(full context)
Uno Interrupts Danny’s Workout
...and broke his nose. As the game stopped and Uno fell to the ground crying, Senior—who was doing a lot of drugs at the time— came out of the stands to...
(full context)
The Workouts, the Hustles, the Drive-in Theater
...able to strike out Carmelo. He knows that Uno needs the money to live with Uno's dad , and Danny doesn’t want to let Uno down. Uno points out the man in...
(full context)
Uno Gets Another Drunken Tongue-Lashing
...day he wants to watch the sun rise over the prominent recycling plant in the city—Senior says he did it once. Then Uno and Danny hear a train coming and rush...
(full context)
Senior Reads Danny’s Mind
...and Uno successfully hustle four more batters. Now, Danny is getting lunch with Uno and Senior. Danny notes how similar the two of them look. Senior tells the boys that he...
(full context)
3. Now at lunch, Senior is explaining to the boys that instead of beating up the kid who tried to...
(full context)
Senior and Uno turn to Danny for input on the topic, but he doesn’t speak. Senior...
(full context)
Uno’s Own Vision of a Future
...no longer a part of the poverty he’s surrounded by. He starts to understand what Senior means when he says people can change.
(full context)
Stripping Tile and Slinging Tar
...Uno wonders if Danny is actually thinking about Danny's dad instead of Ray. Uno says Senior is letting him move to Oxnard even though he hasn’t made $500, and Sofia announces...
(full context)
