Tell Me How It Ends

by

Valeria Luiselli

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Tell Me How It Ends makes teaching easy.
Alina is a woman from Honduras living and working in the United States. She is also Manu’s aunt. Having originally come to the United States on her own to send money back to Manu and her two daughters, Alina eventually sees that it’s too dangerous for her loved ones to stay in Honduras. She realizes this when Manu narrowly escapes murder at the hands of a gang. When this happens, Alina makes arrangements for him to come to live with her in Hempstead, Long Island, paying a “coyote” (a guide) $4,000 to escort him across the Mexico-U.S. border. Shortly after he arrives, she learns that gang members have also started harassing her two young daughters, and although she doesn’t have the money, she puts herself in debt to bring them to live with her and Manu in Hempstead.

Alina López Quotes in Tell Me How It Ends

The Tell Me How It Ends quotes below are all either spoken by Alina López or refer to Alina López. 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:
Migration and Personal Sacrifice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

But not all schools are complying. For months now, Alina has been trying to find a different school for Manu. The two girls are not as vulnerable to gang coercion, she thinks, provided that they keep to themselves. But she tells me that Manu can no longer go unnoticed. For a while he was admitted to a school in Long Beach, but then they told him his English wasn’t good enough and that he needed to take language classes first. Other schools said he didn’t meet the eligibility criteria, or that he’s missing some document or another, or that there’s simply no space.

Related Characters: Valeria Luiselli (speaker), Manu López, Alina López, Alina’s Daughters
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Tell Me How It Ends LitChart as a printable PDF.
Tell Me How It Ends PDF

Alina López Quotes in Tell Me How It Ends

The Tell Me How It Ends quotes below are all either spoken by Alina López or refer to Alina López. 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:
Migration and Personal Sacrifice Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

But not all schools are complying. For months now, Alina has been trying to find a different school for Manu. The two girls are not as vulnerable to gang coercion, she thinks, provided that they keep to themselves. But she tells me that Manu can no longer go unnoticed. For a while he was admitted to a school in Long Beach, but then they told him his English wasn’t good enough and that he needed to take language classes first. Other schools said he didn’t meet the eligibility criteria, or that he’s missing some document or another, or that there’s simply no space.

Related Characters: Valeria Luiselli (speaker), Manu López, Alina López, Alina’s Daughters
Page Number: 93
Explanation and Analysis: