Salvador Late or Early

Cisneros’ vignette is structured less like a traditional narrative, and more like a character sketch. Each paragraph layers increasing depth to Salvador’s situation. The first presents Salvador from an external perspective, focusing on what people can see when they bother to notice him. We hear about his appearance and his family’s socioeconomic precarity: where they live, the “homes [which] are the color of bad weather”, and Salvador living “behind a raw wood doorway” (Paragraph 1). These details insinuate that money is tight, as his family cannot afford to make their home more attractive or put a finish on the wooden doorways. The next paragraph describes Salvador’s responsibility of caring for his younger brothers, which negatively impacts his attendance at school. However, the paragraph makes it clear that these external markers reveal little about Salvador’s inner life. 

Zooming into this idea, the final paragraph attempts to dive beneath the surface of Salvador to his true self, which no one sees or knows. The story suggests that Salvador is a victim of child abuse by linking his need to apologize all the time to the fact that his body possesses “a geography of scars” and a “history of hurt” (Paragraph 3). The words “geography” and “history” imply that he has endured much suffering over a long period of time. What he feels—an undefined “something” that “throbs with both fists” (Paragraph 3)—is intense, yet it is something he cannot define. Instead of explicitly naming his emotions, his psychic pain is described through its physical manifestation: He reacts by balling up his fists, evoking a fight or flight response. Cisneros’s use of language and structure underscores that the boy’s circumstances are much more complex than people notice.

Salvador’s tender selflessness in the face of the burden of caregiving exemplifies Poverty Reshaping Traditional Family Structures. Salvador’s responsibilities stem from his family’s socioeconomic situation. No father is mentioned in the story, suggesting that the boys’ mother is the sole provider. This thrusts Salvador, as the oldest, into a parental role. Despite having no control over this situation, he puts his brothers first, worrying about them over his own “sooner or later arriv[al]” (Paragraph 2) at his own classroom. Furthermore, he picks up dropped crayons with patience and gently “collects the hands of Cecilio and Arturito” (Paragraph 3) every day after school. By taking his brothers’ hands, Salvador demonstrates the love he has for the boys: He does not care what others think about his companions, and he protects his younger siblings on their walk home. The image of Salvador “grow[ing] smaller and smaller to the eye” (Paragraph 3) as he walks away, illustrates that caring for others diminishes his own identity. This erasure is reinforced in the diminishing use of his name as the story progresses. Because his primary concern is caregiving, Salvador acts a father to Cecilio and Arturito and thus loses out on his own experience of childhood.

Salvador’s parental role prevents any potential friendships, resulting in a loneliness that demonstrates the Isolation Experienced by Young Caregivers. Arriving late to school and leaving immediately at the end of the day to tend to his brothers leaves Salvador no time to build friendships with peers. Cisneros establishes that Salvador “is no one’s friend” (Paragraph 1). He cannot invest in creating bonds at school: At the end of each day, he cannot participate in “the many schoolyard colors, the elbows and wrists criss-crossing, the several shoes running” (Paragraph 3), imagery of swirling colors and limbs that suggests the wild and free play of elementary children. Instead of partaking in this, Salvador “scuttles off dodging” his classmates (Paragraph 3) to gather his brothers, a word that evokes images of crabs trying to get out of the way. This diction, combined with how Salvador sees others as colors and body parts, not as people with names, suggests that he does not belong and that others do not engage with him either. Moreover, his “body [is] too small to contain the hundred balloons of happiness” (Paragraph 3): Full of sadness and loneliness, he is not capable of experiencing the exuberant happiness of childhood represented by the plethora of balloons. Because of his caregiving responsibilities, Salvador is alone both physically and emotionally.

Intertwined with his isolation is Salvador’s obscurity, highlighting the theme Invisibility Within Educational Institutions. Salvador has no relationship with his teacher, as his name is one “the teacher cannot remember” (Paragraph 1). Instead, for the teacher, he blends into the background of the classroom, “a boy like any other” (Paragraph 3), a description that highlights his lack of individual identity in the eyes of his educators.  In addition to his invisibility to his peers, Salvador is not known by his teacher. Because no one has taken the time to get to know him, he is forgettable to peers and adults at school.

Cisneros frames the story with parable-like image of a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly to suggest that Salvador has a potentially beautiful future, creating a hopeful tone. The vignette opens with his green eyes being described as “the color of caterpillar” (Paragraph 1), linking him to the butterfly’s larval form. When Salvador walks away to close the vignette, he “flutters in the air before disappearing like the memory of kites” (Paragraph 3). This metaphor connects the boy to winged flight, reminding readers both with motion and with the assonance of the word “flutter” of a butterfly. The insect’s metamorphosis mirrors Salvador’s experiences, implying that Salvador could also emerge from his oppressive cocoon and soar. It is challenging to care for younger siblings and still be a kid, but this process could be a crucible like the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. The result of both is beautiful: a majestic, winged insect and a boy who is tender and compassionate despite all he has endured.