The Hummingbird's Daughter

Tomás Urrea is the father of Teresita and Buenaventura and the patrón of Cabora. His relationship with his wife and family throughout the novel is strained, as the presence of his children born outside of wedlock creates a severe rift in the family dynamics. His treatment of Buenaventura and Teresita is also very different, for even as he coddles Teresita and takes her into the big house, he often shuns and ignores Buenaventura, blaming him for the dissolution of his marriage. Once he becomes aware that he is Teresita’s father, Tomás acts as a guardian for her, protecting her and supporting her. As the pilgrims descend on the ranch and bring the attention of the government, Tomás stands firm in his protection, facing off against Enríquez and the military on her behalf. Through Teresita’s journey, Tomás grows as well, learning from her acts of kindness and relying on her counsel to make important decisions.

Throughout The Hummingbird’s Daughter, Tomás becomes more aware of the world around him and grows more conscious of the suffering and injustices across the country. His growth as a dynamic character begins in his pursuit of the Yaquis who attack Cabora, for rather than punishing them for their violence, he seeks to discover the reason for their actions, and their accounts of the Mexican government’s abuses enlighten him to the true plight of Indigenous people in Mexico. This growing awareness continues with Teresita’s rise to sainthood, as Tomás’s life-long cynicism for religion is softened through his involvement with her acts of healing. This process is fully illustrated when he and his daughter help the lice-infested boy. As the narrative states, “They plucked lice for so long that the boy fell asleep under their fingers. Tomás wiped so much pus on the front of his pants that they had two ugly stains. For the first time in his life, he felt-well, saintly” (403). As this passage reflects, Tomás is a kind man who helps many people, and in this instance, when he directly helps Teresita with the boy, he feels the importance of using his own hands to help someone in need. This action brings him closer to his daughter than ever before, and he remains devoted to her even in her exile at the end of the novel.

Huila is an hechicera, a healer and practitioner of magic. Over the course of Teresita’s life, Huila becomes a guide, a mentor, and a mother figure to the girl. Huila adopts Teresita as her student at a very early age when she perceives the potential of Teresita’s gifts and sees the poor treatment that the girl receives from Tía. Huila is careful to impart useful knowledge to Teresita, educating her on the healing properties of local plants and entreating her to protect such knowledge. As she tells the girl, “Never teach a Yori all the things I am going to teach you. They have stolen enough from us. Don’t give them our souls” (98). Huila introduces Teresita to the complex relationships between the People and the Yoris of Mexico even as she initiates her into the special spirituality of the People. This belief system combines qualities of Catholicism and Indigenous traditions. Through Huila, Teresita develops her own moral consciousness and relationship to God. Huila guides Teresita into adulthood and hopes that Teresita will take her place as healer in the community.

Huila’s reputation at Cabora is quite elevated, with many respecting and even fearing her. Her relationship with God and Indigenous practices gives her a holy air, and people assume that she holds great power. When she collapses, the reaction across the ranch is one of great grief and even apocalyptic fear. Tomás and others bring her to her room, but her space holds such a special status that they initially hesitate to enter, and when they do cross the threshold, several girls “[dip] their heads as if they [have] entered a church” (317). Huila’s room is holy in the eyes of the serving girls, and her space is so respected by the patrón of Cabora that Tomás has never entered her room until this moment. Throughout her life, Huila has cultivated this legendary status among the People of Cabora, and this same sense of reverence is only amplified in her protégé, Teresita, who demonstrates miraculous healing gifts. Huila is the bridge for Teresita and many others to the spiritual aspects of the world, and as such, she is the driving force behind the magical realism of the novel.

Cruz Chávez is one of Teresita’s more high-profile followers, and her association with him leads to Cabora’s confrontation with the Mexican military. Cruz is the leader of the Tigers of Tomóchic, and he is the self-proclaimed Pope of Mexico. He and his followers are militant, and in many ways, he serves as a foil for Teresita. Both he and Teresita are horrified by the atrocities that the Mexican government has committed against Indigenous people, but while Teresita preaches peace and joy, Cruz calls for a more violent approach. In their first philosophical conversation, Cruz expresses his disgust with the military, saying, “Killing the People, taking scalps. That is what makes them happy. Did you know that when they burn a village, or shoot the men and take the women, they always laugh? You never heard so much laughter as when those men are killing the People” (375). Cruz is repulsed by the joy that the government’s agents take in murdering and exploiting Indigenous people. He therefore sees militant retaliation as an adequate response and discounts Teresita’s requests that he use no violence.

While he is in many ways Teresita’s philosophical foil, Cruz also acts as a sidekick, for he is one of her most devout and committed followers. He is like her second-in-command, someone who consistently reaches out for advice and in whom Teresita confides. He expresses his community’s fervent devotion to her in a letter, stating, “We await the day you come to our mountains and preach your gospel. Until that day, we pray for you. We light candles in your honor. And in the name of all that is Holy, we will kill anyone who comes against you” (389). He is fiercely protective of Teresita, promising to take violent action against any threats that face her. He also reveres her as a living saint for his town. When Teresita is taken by the Mexican military, he is one of the many who rise up and call for war and violent action to free her. He is not afraid of using violence to accomplish his goals, or the goals that he interprets from Teresita’s letters. However, his readiness to defend her demonstrates his status as a foil, for his violent devotion directly contradicts Teresita’s teachings.

Lauro Aguirre is the friend of Tomás Urrea and the political conscience of The Hummingbird’s Daughter. He is an engineer and a harsh critic of President Díaz and his regime. As a highly educated man, Aguirre is more aware than others of the political climate in Mexico. This knowledge makes him a trusted advisor to Tomás and helps to situate the events happening around Cabora and the ranch in Sinaloa within a broader context. In Part 1, Aguirre warns Tomás of coming political turmoil, urging him to “[w]atch […] for punitive actions. For revenge. See if lands are seized for obscure reasons. See if opposition politicians vanish between Ocoroni and Guaymas” (90). Not only does this advice help to catalyze the Urrea family’s move from Sinaloa to Sonora, but it also introduces the larger issue of land rights in Mexico. Aguirre’s advice foreshadows the future standoff between the Urreas and the government. His political awareness makes him valuable to Tomás, but it also places him in enough danger that he is forced to flee to the US.

In the US, Aguirre writes an incendiary newspaper for distribution in the US and Mexico with the goal of starting a revolution in Mexico. Though Aguirre is not present at Cabora for much of the novel, he still does his best to communicate with Tomás, and with the rise of Teresita’s fame, he uses her reputation to incite rebellion. Like Teresita, Aguirre believes that Indigenous rights are the key to revolution, for he states, “The Americans are deeply offended by Chinamen crossing into their country uninvited. Ah, but the railroads must go on. Industry will foment the next Americano revolution, just as land reform and Indigenous rights will fuel our own” (379). Aguirre sees similarities between Mexico and the US, with both experiencing domestic turmoil that could lead to larger political realignments, even if the specific issues differ. His suspicions about Mexico are largely true and are proven by the government’s belief that Teresita is stoking discontent over Indigenous rights.

Lieutenant Enríquez is a key antagonist of The Hummingbird’s Daughter, for he is the primary representative of the Díaz regime. However, his antagonistic role is complicated by his friendship with Tomás, and this dynamic influences the ways in which he approaches the issue of Teresita. Even in Part 1, Aguirre recognizes the complications that could arise from the fact that Enríquez is simultaneously a friend of the Urreas and a military man. Aguirre, a harsh critic of the government, is resentful of Enríquez’s role in perpetrating oppression, but he recognizes the contradictions of the man’s position. This contradiction is further explored in later sections of the novel as Enríquez struggles to reconcile his military duties with his respect for Tomás.

When Enríquez is tasked with taking Teresita to prison for her role in fomenting political unrest, he is reluctant to do so, and he is even more reluctant to fight Tomás in any way. Every time Enríquez comes to Cabora with bad news, Tomás challenges him, and Enríquez often backs down in the name of friendship. When he is ultimately tasked with ending the pilgrimage at Cabora, Enríquez decides to give Tomás and Teresita a chance to escape, despite the ramifications that it will have for his career. As he tells his friend, “It will probably cost me my head. But I will give you some time to, ah, speak to your daughter. […] And you...you can do what you must. I can give you two, possibly three hours” (442). Enríquez is therefore one of the most complicated figures in the novel, for his role as the government’s representative is muddled by his personal feelings. Enríquez does not want to harm his friend or his daughter, and he deliberately skews his orders in their favor.

Buenaventura is the brother of Teresita and the son of Tomás, though he is not favored in his father’s eyes. Buenaventura is a foil to Teresita, for his relationship with Tomás is the opposite of her own. While Tomás accepts Teresita as his daughter and invites her into his house, Buenaventura is often shunned, ignored, and even banished to Aquihuiquichi, and Tomás rarely wants to be in his presence. This dynamic breeds resentment in Buenaventura, and he comes to despise Teresita and all she represents. As the narrative explains, “One of her detractors was Buenaventura. Though no religious fanatic, he was appalled at her behavior. She romped with the [Indigenous] children, then sang filthy songs and common ballads to slavering vaqueros” (286). Buenaventura is jealous of her status on the ranch, and he disapproves of her willingness to associate with those whom he believes to be beneath her. He envies her position in the family and the attention and status it brings, and he cannot help but judge her every move, thinking of how he would behave in her place.

Despite his ill feelings toward her, Buenaventura eventually comes to accept Teresita and is accepted by the Urreas. When Tomás and Teresita flee, Tomás places Buenaventura and Juan Francisco, his oldest son with Loreto, in positions of equal authority when he charges them with running Cabora and protecting it. This newfound responsibility demonstrates a shift in the relationship between Tomás and Buenaventura and foreshadows Buenaventura’s acceptance of Teresita at the end of the novel. As Teresita and Tomás flee on the train to the US, they see Buenaventura in the crowd of her followers, and he waves to them with a smile on his face, happy to see them carried safely off to a new future. Buenaventura’s presence demonstrates his care, and his wave signifies his gratitude at finally having a place in the Urrea family.