The Book of Unknown Americans: Chapter 20: Mayor Summary & Analysis

Late in February, Rafael comes home from work one evening visibly angry. Mayor steers clear of his parents until dinner. At the table, his parents fight viciously back and forth over whether Mayor has the right to “know” something—eventually, Rafael leaves the table, and Celia tells Mayor that Rafael has lost his job.

Mayor feels sorry for his father, who has worked at the diner six days a week for fifteen years. Rafael searches for jobs everywhere, but, like Arturo, he cannot find anything. Celia and Rafael fight more and more, and Mayor is helpless to mediate their arguments.

Mayor and his friend William have been on the outs lately, but one day, at school, the two of them make up. William asks Mayor if he wants to go to a movie—Mayor is still grounded, but he decides that if he snuck out for Maribel, he can sneak out for William, too. That afternoon, when Mayor arrives home from the movies, his mother tells him that she has received a call from Alma Rivera. Mayor asks what about, but Celia insists on waiting until Rafael gets home. When Rafael walks in the door, Celia sends Mayor to his room. “After an eternity,” Celia and Rafael knock on Mayor’s door—when he lets them in, it is clear that Celia has been crying and Rafael has “a dark look in his eyes.” Rafael confronts him about having been in the car with Maribel, and Mayor admits to stealing the keys off the windowsill in order to get in. Rafael asks if Mayor kissed Maribel—Mayor attempts to dodge the question, but eventually concedes that he did and that it “wasn’t a big deal.” Rafael tells Mayor that he is not allowed to see Maribel anymore—the Riveras want him to stay away.

Mayor protests, angry that his father has never liked Maribel and upset that no one ever asks Maribel what it is that she herself wants. Mayor feels the situation spinning out of control, “like a rope slipping through [his] hands.”