Salvador Late or Early

In the United States, over a million children “between the ages of 8 and 18 provide care for an older adult or a sibling, including approximately 400,000 youngsters who are between the ages of 8 and 11” (“Young Caregivers.” American Psychological Association, 2010). Many children who are caregivers also belong to low-income, single-parent households, which is why they must take on additional responsibilities. This is the case for Salvador, Cisneros’s protagonist: He looks after his younger brothers, Cecilio and Arturito, while his mother cares for the baby. Furthermore, the lack of any mention of a father implies that his mother is raising the kids on her own. 

For young caregivers like Salvador, increased responsibilities frequently result in lowered participation in school activities. Moreover, “boys seem to have greater difficulties than girls, particularly in feelings of isolation and sadness and in behavior and school problems.” (“Young Caregivers”).  Although Salvador exhibits no inappropriate behavior or get into trouble at school, other than sometimes arriving late, he struggles with isolation and sadness for he “is no one’s friend” (Paragraph 1) and within him “something throbs with both fists” (Paragraph 3). This emotion, which plagues him relentlessly, is so intense that he cannot define it. Despite the obscurity of Salvador’s emotions, he is clearly burdened by being a caregiver at such a young age.

Salvador’s responsibilities impact his education, for he does not spend any extra time at school, and he is neglected there. Salvador is someone “whose name the teacher cannot remember” (Paragraph 1), and the ambiguity surrounding his attendance—he is early or late—suggests that no one pays much attention to when he arrives. Then, when he leaves immediately at the end of the school day, he “grows smaller and smaller”, “dissolves”, and “disappears” (Paragraph 3), emphasizing how invisible he is to others at school. 

Cisneros is known for writing about the struggles of working class Mexican American children, a topic she delves into in her short stories and her novella The House on Mango Street (1984). She often tackles the subtleties of these children feeling invisible in US schools because of stereotypes and because of a lack of understanding by peers and adults. In “Eleven,” another story in Woman Hollering Creek, the main character’s birthday is spoiled by a teacher who forcibly and publicly assumes that a ratty old sweater is hers. This action underscores the bias that Mexican American children often face in schools. In contrast, Salvador is simply forgotten about and overlooked. Cisneros notes that she writes to raise awareness, and so that children will “see their story being written about,” which will hopefully “[give] them new options and possibilities to imagine something outside of what television or what the school counselor could imagine for them” (Sutton, Rebecca. “Hispanic Heritage Flashback Friday: Sandra Cisneros on Recognizing Ourselves.” National Endowment for the Arts, 25 Sept. 2020.). By imagining Salvador’s story, Cisneros sheds light on the challenges that children like him face when they are burdened with parental responsibilities at such a young age and allows them to be seen.