Tomás Morales Character Analysis

One of the novel’s four narrators and Sylvia’s twin brother. Previously the school’s foremost prankster, Tomás has vowed to shape up this year in order to help his family, which is struggling to cope with his Mamá’s degenerative illness; however, it’s Tomás’s penchant for thinking outside the rules that lands him outside the auditorium during the fatal assembly and allows him to plan creatively enough to open the doors and, alongside Fareed, free many students. Throughout the novel Tomás is troubled by his relationship with his sister Sylvia, which was once close but is now distant and strained, a transformation he eventually discovers is due to the trauma of her rape by Tyler the previous summer. Tomás eventually sacrifices his life for Sylvia by distracting Tyler and buying her time to escape. As a brother, he’s a notable foil to Tyler. While both boys view their bonds with their sisters as the central relationships of their lives, Tomás reacts to changes in that relationship by trying to understand and aid his sister, rather than seeking to sabotage her as Tyler does to Autumn.