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Chapter 7
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Return to Sender, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Immigration in America
Coming of Age
Democracy
American Values
Home and Belonging
Love, Friendship, and Human Connection
Summary
Analysis
Return-to-Sender Farm. Slowly, after many fits and starts, spring comes to Vermont. The swallows come back from Mexico, singing happily. It rains a lot, and there’s a lot to do on the farm. Whenever Tyler has a spare minute, he helps Dad and Ben in the fields. Mr. Cruz and Tío Armando are working overtime in the dairy parlor. When he sees Mr. Cruz, Tyler can’t help but notice how stressed he looks. Mamá’s return wasn’t the simple happy ending Tyler had expected. Whatever happened during her captivity is so horrible that she and Mr. Cruz are keeping it secret, but it’s making Mr. Cruz furious. There’s a lot of tension in the trailer these days.
Not only does the return of the swallows represent spring, but it also provides a pointed reminder to readers that moving from one place to another in search of resources, safety, or a new home, is a natural process. Human institutions make it more complex. And, for the Cruzes, spring is a complex time indeed. The trauma Mamá suffers from her time with the coyotes colors everything, and Papá’s anguish provides a pointed reminder of how powerless he is, in part because of his legal status.
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Tyler starts to worry that maybe adulthood is like Mamá’s return, an endlessly uncomfortable mix of happy and sad. And with Gramps gone, the only person he can really talk to about this is Mari.
Without seeking to depress readers, the book seems to suggest that adult life is rife with injustices and crimes. But Tyler intuitively understands how a person is meant to survive difficulties, too: by leaning on the love of his or her friends and family.
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For Mother’s Day, all Paquette men prepare a big feast in honor of Grandma and their wives—a feast they pick up from the local bakery and take-out barbeque shop. During the meal, Grandma announces that she’s going to Mexico later that summer with the church youth group. Mr. Rossetti (who has been invited to dinner) objects. He thinks it’s too dangerous to go alone. Grandma says he can come, too, but only as a member of the church. Grumpily, Mr. Rossetti agrees.
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Ofie follows this with her own announcement: the next day is Mari’s 12th birthday! Tyler panics. With so little time, how will he find a good enough present? Fortunately, the next day in school, he discovers a website that allows you to name a star after a person, complete with a certificate. And it’s free! He prints the certificate and decides that he’ll also bring out his telescope to show Mari her star. That is, if it stops raining in time.
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Tyler is a little surprised when there’s no invitation from the Cruzes to celebrate Mari’s birthday, although he knows it’s a tough time for them. But he’s not going to let his special friend’s special day go by without attention. He wraps her star certificate along with an IOU for stargazing (since it’s still raining), puts on his raincoat, and heads for the trailer. Mari is just as excited by the gift as Tyler could have hoped. But privately, on the porch, she tells him that her family is upset because they just saw the president on the news, announcing his intention to send National Guard troops to the border to keep immigrants out.
Tyler and Mari are discussing this when Mr. Cruz storms onto the porch. Angrily, he says (as Mari translates) that he can’t pay Tyler back yet and he doesn’t want Tyler coming around and harassing him for his money. That’s not what Tyler was doing, but Mari’s face tells him he should be quiet, so he leaves without argument.
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Nearly two weeks later, on the eve of Memorial Day, the rain finally stops. Tyler, Mari, Ofie, and Luby are at Grandma’s house, helping her prepare flags for the holiday. When a minor argument breaks out between Ofie and Mari (who, Tyler notes with pride, is learning how to stand up for herself) it’s just the excuse he needs to get her outside alone. He takes her behind the house where he's already set up his telescope and pointed it at her star. She looks at it with delight. But then Tyler sees lights on the horizon. A “swarm” of cars with flashing lights are descending on the Paquette’s farm and the unsuspecting family of immigrants that live there.
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Dear Diary (Sunday, June 4, 2006). More than two weeks after receiving the diary as a birthday present from Mamá, Mari begins to write in it. It’s taken her so long, she says, in part because what happened was so upsetting, in part because the place where she, Ofie, and Luby are staying doesn’t offer much privacy. Dear Diary (Friday, June 9, 2006). It’s also been two weeks since Mari, Ofie, or Luby attended classes at school and, as Tyler reports, Mr. Bicknell and some of her classmates are starting to ask after her.
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Dear Diary (Sunday, June 11, 2006). Finally, Mr. Rossetti and Grandma go to church and leave the girls alone (they’ve evidently been staying at Mr. Rossetti’s house this whole time). Ofie and Luby are watching television—they had to wait until Grandma brought theirs over from the trailer, as Mr. Rossetti doesn’t have one. Mari still doesn’t know where Mamá and Papá are, but Mrs. Paquette has already contacted Mr. Calhoun. And Alyssa has let their family in Mexico know what’s going on with a call to Tío Felipe.
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Going back to the terrible night, Mari describes looking through the telescope at her new star when dozens of armed ICE agents surround the trailer and kick down the door. She and Tyler watch, helpless, as the agents pull Papá—who is wildly swinging his fists—out the door and catch Mamá as she dives out a window. Only Tío Armando comes peacefully. Mr. Paquette and Mrs. Paquette come out of their house, waving some papers. When the agents force a screaming Mamá into a car, Mari starts to run toward the fracas. But Tyler stops her. Instead, they go back to Grandma’s house where they explain what’s happening to Grandma, Ofie, and Luby.
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Saying that they all need to stay calm, Grandma waits until the last ICE car has left, then she loads Tyler, Mari, Ofie, and Luby into her car. She drives a roundabout way to Mr. Rossetti’s house, where her urgent knocks summon him from bed. She ushers the girls and Tyler into his living room, then she calls the farm. After talking to Mrs. Paquette, she tells everyone else that ICE has arrested Papá and Tío Armando. They ignored the paperwork the Paquettes have proving that Papá and Tío Armando are paying taxes. Agents left a phone number they can use to check up on the Cruzes’ cases.
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Mr. Rossetti is outraged. The Cruzes are good people, he asserts, and their girls (he gestures toward Mari, Ofie, and Luby) are American citizens. They have rights! Mari notices how neither Grandma nor Tyler corrects Mr. Rossetti’s misconception about her citizenship. Although Mr. Rossetti gives the girls the guestroom bed, Mari doesn’t sleep a wink that night.
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Early the next morning, Grandma and Tyler go back to the farm to help with the chores. She and Mr. Rossetti both decide to skip the town’s Memorial Day festivities. Neither of them feels particularly celebratory. Still, after dark, they put the girls in the car and drive to the cemetery for a private ceremony. Mr. Rossetti shows Mari, Ofie, and Luby the grave of his brother, who died in WWII. It’s decorated with one of the flags they were making the night before. Then he takes a trumpet from his car and plays a song so sad and forlorn it reminds Mari of “La Golondrina.”
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Dear Diary (Saturday, June 17, 2006). The next day, Ms. Ramírez, Mrs. Paquette, and Tyler stop by with an update. Papá is at a detention center in New York state, and Mamá is somewhere else. When Mrs. Paquette and Ms. Ramírez leave for an appointment with Mr. Calhoun, Tyler stays behind. He’s good at overhearing information, Mari observes, and now he tells her that the ICE agents had tracked Mamá to the farm after finding her bag when they raided one of the coyotes’ safe houses. Unfortunately, they believe that she’s a trafficker, too, rather than a victim. So, she’s facing criminal charges. Papá is facing criminal charges, too, for resisting arrest. The thought of having to wait months for criminal proceedings before she can see her parents again almost drives Mari to despair.
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Dear Diary (Sunday, June 18, 2006). On Father’s Day, the Paquettes get the corn planted during a break in the rain. They go to Mr. Rossetti’s to have ice cream with Mr. Rossetti, Mari, Ofie, and Luby. Afterward, Mari asks Tyler if he thinks it would help if she went and told ICE about what really happened to Mamá. Tyler doesn’t think they’ll care. After all, their hearts are as cold as ice, just like their name. But Mari isn’t sure she agrees. After all, look at how kind Mr. Rossetti became when he got to know her family and their story.
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Dear Diary (Wednesday, June 21, 2006). On the last day of school, Mr. Bicknell has the students write messages to Mari on the board, which he types up and sends home with Tyler. Some of them are snide, like the ones from Clayton and Ronnie, but most of the messages are kind and speak to the friendships Mari has made over the last year. But the note she likes best is from Tyler, who writes that he thinks America would be a better country if she were part of it.
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Dear Diary (Sunday, June 25, 2006). One day near the end of June, when Ms. Ramírez stops by Mr. Rossetti’s house, Mari asks if she will take her to speak to the ICE agents so she can explain “everything.” She’s scared, but she’s also absolutely certain it’s the right thing to do. And, to her surprise, Ms. Ramírez agrees—but she wants to talk to Mr. Calhoun first to make sure it’s a good idea. He says it can’t hurt, so a few days later, Mari finds herself heading to the nearest Homeland Security office with the lawyer, the Spanish teacher, and Barry. Tyler comes too, for moral support.
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Mr. Calhoun sits in the back on the drive to talk to Mari. He wants to hear what she plans to say, and he likes her ideas. He also tells her that her parents were swept up in “Operation Return to Sender,” a push by the Department of Homeland Security to round up illegal immigrants who also have a criminal record. Tyler says “Return to Sender” is what’s stamped on undeliverable mail. Mr. Calhoun explains that the name of the operation implies that the human beings the agents are targeting are little more than “excess baggage.”
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Mr. Calhoun isn’t thrilled when he learns that Mari will be talking to an officer named Mr. O’Good. Mr. O’Good is gruff and intimidating, but he allows Mari to bring Mr. Calhoun and Tyler along with her. And then, looking at Tyler for emotional support, Mari tells him what happened to Mamá as simply and clearly as she can. She also confesses that she herself is not a citizen, and she is voluntarily turning herself in. She’s certain that if they detain her, they can release Mamá without any fear of her running away. Mamá won’t leave her daughters behind again. To her surprise, Mr. O’Good congratulates her on her bravery and exemplary behavior. He can’t make promises, but he says he will see what he can do for Mari and her family.
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Dear Diary (Friday, June 30, 2006). Mari’s plan bears fruit. The Department of Homeland Security agrees to release Mamá into Aunt Roxie and Uncle Tony’s custody while the family waits for the outcome of Papá’s court case. And while Mamá, Papá, and Mari are going to be deported, Mamá’s invaluable assistance in testifying against the coyotes means that she’s earned a special report in her file that will help her if or when she applies to immigrate legally. Ofie and Luby aren’t excited about having to move to Mexico. But the important thing, Mari reminds them, is that their family will finally be together again. And, because Ofie and Luby are American citizens, they’ll be able to return when they’re older if they want to.
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So, in late June, Mrs. Paquette and Grandma pack the Cruz family’s belongings into a car in preparation for driving Mari, Ofie, and Luby to Boston where they’ll stay with Mamá until it’s time to go back to Las Margaritas. Mari is relieved, but she’s also sad to be leaving Tyler behind. He asks Mari if there’s anything special she wants to take with her. There is one thing, and it’s not something that anyone can fit in a suitcase. Mari wants to visit the farm one last time so she can memorize what it looks like and meet Tyler’s newest show cow, Margarita.
