Baseball in April and Other Stories

Bicycles appear in multiple early stories and symbolize both the carefree interests and the smaller worries of childhood. In “Broken Chain,” for example, Alfonso is distraught when the chain on his bike breaks just before his date with Sandra, and he is incensed by his brother’s refusal to loan him a bike for the occasion. By contrast, in “Baseball in April,” a bicycle transports Jesse to his dream: the baseball field. 

Later, the impulsivity of childhood is symbolized through Fausto’s use of a bicycle in “The No-Guitar Blues.” When he decides to earn his own money for a guitar, “he hop[s] onto his sister’s bike […] and [rides] north to the nicer section of Fresno in search of work” (44). By jumping on his bike, Fausto takes physical action to chase his childlike dream of becoming a rock star. He rides without thinking or planning, and his mannerisms signify the spontaneity of childhood. However, when he plans to deceive the dog’s owners into getting a reward, he “stashe[s] […] his sister’s bike behind a bush” (46. With the creation of his deceptive plan, he loses a measure of innocence, and he feels the need to hide the bike: a symbol of innocent childhood.