26 pages • 52-minute read
Salvador Late or Early
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Symbols & Motifs
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes a discussion of child abuse.
Crayons
In “Salvador Late or Early,” crayons symbolize childhood. Many days, on the walk to school, Arturito accidentally drops his “cigar box of crayons [...] let[s] go the hundred little fingers of red, green, yellow, blue, and nub of black sticks that tumble and spill over and beyond the asphalt puddles” (Paragraph 2). Typically used by young children when first learning to write or draw, crayons are often associated with being of kindergarten age. Strengthening this connection, Cisneros personifies the crayons as a “hundred little fingers.” By giving the colorful drawing instruments the characteristics of a small child’s hands, Cisneros links the crayons with youth and innocence. The “little fingers” of the crayons contrast sharply with Salvador’s action of collecting them. Because he has assumed parental responsibilities and looks after his younger brothers, Salvador is not the one who uses the crayons; he only assembles them after Arturito’s spill.
Wrinkled Shirt
Salvador’s wrinkled shirt is a visual reminder that no one is looking out for him; it functions as a motif fueling the theme The Isolation of Young Caregivers. Salvador is meticulous when looking after his brothers, even “combing their hair with water” (Paragraph 1) to make them look presentable. He also takes care with their possessions, collecting their dropped crayons in the crosswalk. However, immediately following the description of his attentive ministering to his siblings is the description of Salvador is “inside that wrinkled shirt” (Paragraph 3). In contrast to the neat appearance of Cecilio and Arturito, Salvador wears messy clothes. This hints that he spends so much time looking after his siblings that he cannot fully tend to himself. Moreover, it suggests that no one else, not even his mother, is caring for him. Typically, a parent would iron their child’s clothes, but in this case, no one is completing this chore for Salvador. When combined with the implied abuse the boy has suffered, the image of the wrinkled shirt demonstrates just how alone Salvador is. Even though family surrounds him and even though he goes to school, he is lonely and unprotected.
Kites
Like crayons, kites symbolize youthful innocence in “Salvador Late or Early.” Like crayons, kites are toys that are associated with childhood joy and the freedom of movement implied in seeing the toy take flight in the sky. At the end of the vignette, Salvador collects his brothers to take them home after school. As the elder boy leads his siblings away, he “grows smaller and smaller to the eye, dissolves into the bright horizon, flutters in the air before disappearing like a memory of kites” (Paragraph 3). Salvador’s diminishing size is literal because he is walking away; however, when Cisneros compares him to only a “memory” of kite flying, she suggests that he is also figuratively moving away from childhood. The phrase evokes nostalgia more typically associated with an adult thinking fondly back on their days flying kites as a child. By giving this kind of rumination to Salvador, Cisneros points to the childhood that Salvador hasn’t gotten to experience. Despite his age, the boy’s childhood has slipped away amid his grownup responsibilities and self-erasure.
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