Across A Hundred Mountains

Adelina is a young American woman who ran away from home with her boyfriend at 15 years old. She ends up in Tijuana working as a prostitute, where her boyfriend, Gerardo, only visits occasionally and is violent toward her. Juana meets Adelina in jail in Tijuana, and Adelina lets Juana move in with her and helps her find work as a prostitute. Adelina is later murdered by Gerardo, and Juana steals Adelina’s birth certificate, assumes Adelina’s identity, and moves to the United States.

Guadalupe Ramírez de García, or Lupe, is Juana’s mother. She is most commonly referred to as Amá in the text. Toward the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Amá has lost three daughters, one by scorpion bite, one who died stillborn, and one who drowned. Amá and Apá have a loving relationship, and it is especially hard on Amá when Apá leaves for the United States and doesn’t return. Amá eventually is forced into a sexual relationship with Don Elías, a debt collector, in order to pay her debt. Amá eventually becomes pregnant but insists that the baby is Apá’s. However, Don Elías and his wife steal the baby to raise as their own, meaning Amá has now lost four children. Amá becomes an alcoholic and eventually murders Don Elías for stealing her son. After, Amá ends up in prison, but she never gives up hope that Apá will return home to her.

Amá is a religious woman, and often turns to religion to bring her husband back. At one point, as she cleans up her altar, she observes, “‘Maybe our offerings of wildflowers and scented candles weren’t enough’” (128), and turns to self-flagellation to further atone for her sins. When Juana visits Amá in prison, shortly before Amá’s death, she allows Amá to believe that her son, José Alberto, is actually her husband, returning home to her so that Amá can die happy.

Miguel García is Juana’s father and Amá’s husband. At the beginning of the novel, Apá works in the fields to support the family. Apá loves Amá and Juana and hopes to one day build them a real house and improve their lives. When Apá leaves for the United States in order to find work, he promises Juana and Amá that he will return soon. When Apá never returns, Juana devotes her life to finding him. About twenty years later, Juana finally finds Apá’s bones near the border and knows he died trying to cross, and that he never deserted his family.

Don Elías is a debt collector in the village. He is “a short, fat man who reminded Juana of a gorilla she had once seen in a book” (42). Don Elías is vulgar and mean. When Amá can’t repay her debt to him, Don Elías forces her to exchange sex for the repayment of her debt. Don Elías is known as a womanizer in town, and many people judge Amá for not being loyal to her husband. Don Elías is married to Doña Matilde, a woman who can’t bear children. When Amá becomes pregnant, Don Elías and Doña Matilde steal the baby to raise as their own, contributing to Amá’s grief.

Doña Martina is a midwife and healer in the village, and a good friend of Amá’s. She helps deliver Amá’s babies and lets Amá help her with her work as a midwife. Doña Martina even gives Juana money when Juana leaves for the border. Later, Doña Martina’s granddaughter, Sandra, looks after Amá while Juana is in the United States. Doña Martina is a kind and generous woman.

José Alberto is Amá’s only son. He is born seven and a half months after Apá has left for the United States, making Amá certain that he is Apá’s son, and she names him Miguel after Apá. When Don Elías and Doña Matilde steal the baby, they rename him José Alberto. José Alberto is raised by Doña Matilde and eventually goes to college in Mexico City. José Alberto and Juana reconnect on the bus when Juana is traveling back to the village as an adult to visit Amá on her deathbed. José Alberto eventually learns that he and Juana are brother and sister, and helps Juana release their parents’ ashes into the ocean.

Juana, under the name Adelina, meets Sebastian at the hospital, where she is visiting one of the women from her shelter. Adelina immediately has feelings for Sebastian, and they eventually go on their first date at a seafood restaurant. Sebastian grew up in San Bernardino, California and is close to his large family. Sebastian is kind to his patients and listens to Adelina. However, Adelina ends their relationship because she cannot give up her journey to search for her father, and she can’t tell Sebastian the truth about her background. However, by the end of the novel, Adelina decides to reach out to Sebastian again and try to have a relationship with him, giving herself a chance to be happy.

Don Ernesto is the owner of the apartment building where Juana, as Adelina, first lives when she moves to Los Angeles. Don Ernesto’s apartment building is cheap and filled with cockroaches, but Don Ernesto is a kind man. He encourages Adelina to go back to high school, and eventually college. When Don Ernesto dies, he leaves a $6,000 inheritance to Juana.

Diana is a woman who is in and out of the shelter where Adelina works in Los Angeles. Adelina first met Diana on Christmas Eve, where she found Diana drunk and sleeping on the streets. Adelina learns that Diana fell asleep at the wheel and caused her son to die in a car crash. Diana later tries to commit suicide. After attempting suicide, Diana says to Adelina, “‘What do you know about pain? You don’t know what it’s like to be responsible for a child’s death. You don’t know what it’s like for me when night comes, when my body yearns for rest and my guilty conscience can’t let it sleep’” (221), not knowing that Adelina fell asleep causing her baby sister, Anita, to drown. Adelina cares for Diana because she can relate to her grief.