The Book of Unknown Americans: Chapter 8: Mayor Summary & Analysis

The Toros and the Riveras grow closer—both families attend the same mass, and Celia often invites the Riveras over to their apartment for lunch afterwards. Celia is a gracious and enthusiastic hostess, but Rafael does not let the Riveras’ presence interfere with his usual Sunday routine of watching soccer. Rafael brags to the Riveras about Enrique’s success, and even talks up Mayor’s (nonexistent) soccer skills. Initially wary of these Sunday afternoons with the Riveras, Mayor tends to hide in his room—Celia coaxes him out, though, and urges him to engage Maribel, since the two of them are about the same age. Mayor is afraid to attempt any real conversation with Maribel.

One afternoon, Garrett taunts Mayor as Mayor walks home from school. Mayor considers that Garrett must be lonely—he doesn’t have any friends, his older brother died serving in Iraq, his mother has recently picked up and left town, and his father is rumored to be an alcoholic. Mayor attempts to ignore Garrett and walk away, but soon Maribel’s bus pulls up and drops her out front of the Redwood Apartments, where Garrett taunts her for not being able to speak English. He calls Maribel a retard, and then pulls Maribel’s sunglasses—which are extra-dark, a remedy against her frequent headaches—down off of her face and throws them to the ground. When Maribel bends over to reach her glasses, Garrett puts his hands on her hips. Mayor calls out to Garrett, telling him to leave Maribel alone. Garrett turns on Mayor, but seemingly gets bored of the interaction before escalating things. He rides off on his skateboard, and calls out to Maribel: “I’m not done with you.”

Mayor makes sure that Maribel is okay, and then asks her if she’s going up to her apartment. Maribel insists on waiting for her mother, who always meets her at the bus. Mayor suggests the two of them wait up on the landing, and Maribel agrees. Maribel pulls out a notebook and begins writing—Mayor tries to talk to her about reading and writing, and they have a pleasant enough conversation despite Maribel’s frequent non-sequiturs.

Soon, Mayor and Maribel hear Alma calling for Maribel. She is flushed and panicked, but Mayor reassures her that everything is okay. Alma quickly takes Maribel up to their apartment, leaving Mayor on his own.

Mayor feels that something has changed between him and Maribel—he is protective of her, and now engages in conversations with her on Sundays and attempts to joke with her in order to make her smile. One Sunday, Quisqueya shows up—she is hurt that Celia has not invited her over in a long time, and once she sees that the Riveras are at the apartment, she leaves. After she does the Toros and the Riveras discuss politics—Barack Obama has just been elected president. Rafael Toro is skeptical of what Obama can do for immigrants, but he is hopeful that Obama will fix the economy. Rafael laments that America is “not as safe as it used to be”—when Arturo Rivera seems concerned by this statement, Rafael adds that “compared to where any of us are from, it’s safe.”

Mayor was just an infant when the Toros came to America, and though he never really knew Panamá, Rafael constantly assures him that the country is “in [Mayor’s] bones.” Mayor feels American, though, and he is distressed when his classmates tease him about being Panamanian—he is caught between two worlds.

Mayor remembers the day he and his family took their oath of citizenship, “along with a group of other men and women who had made living in the United States a dream.”

The Toros have never been back to Panamá—Rafael is too afraid to ask for vacation time, knowing that as a line cook “he could be replaced in a heartbeat.” They almost went back once, for Rafael’s high school reunion—the whole family was excited, and Celia bought new clothes for the trip, but after Rafael spoke on the phone to one of his classmates who called him “gringo royalty” and implied that Rafael had forgotten his roots, Rafael became angered and cancelled the trip. The Toros considered one more trip to Panamá, the following year—but two weeks before they were scheduled to depart, the 9/11 attacks took place in New York, and they once again cancelled their trip. That Christmas, Rafael took his family to a frozen beach in Southern Delaware and told Celia—devastated by having twice missed the opportunity to visit her family—that the beach was “[as] close [as she was] going to get” to Panamá. Once at the beach in the freezing cold, Celia admitted that “this country [is] beautiful.”