Hart is one of Cantú’s classmates at Border Patrol Academy. He is a young black man from Detroit who used to work at an airport car rental booth. He indulges in some of the book’s more disrespectful behavior towards migrants, such as urinating on migrants’ possessions that are found abandoned in the desert.
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Hart Character Timeline in The Line Becomes a River
The timeline below shows where the character Hart appears in The Line Becomes a River. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1
Over drinks that night, Cantú’s classmate Hart complains about his previous life in Detroit, where he was disrespected as a black man...
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Hart can’t understand why anyone would want to cross the border, through the desert, in 115-degree...
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Hart loses interest in Cantú’s explanation, and their fellow recruit Morales seems quieted by it. Cantú...
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Hart’s roommate, Dominguez, quits after repeatedly failing a test, and Cantú criticizes Hart for not supporting...
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...a dead body in the summer heat, Cantú goes to the site, where he finds Hart waiting with two boys. They haven’t been able to talk because Hart doesn’t speak Spanish.
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...worry that the boys won’t in fact get a chance to go to the consul, Hart says transport is coming and requests their belts, shoelaces, and other personal effects.
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...guides give them. The boys thank him, and Cantú drives off into a storm, leaving Hart to guard the body.
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At the end of his shift, Cantú sees Hart at the station, and Hart tells him there was nobody to collect the body, so...
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