The Madonnas of Echo Park

Chapter 1 is narrated from the perspective of Aurora Esperanza’s father, a Mexican immigrant and day laborer named Hector Esperanza. He opens the chapter with an account of his numerous losses in life, including his Chavez Ravine home (supplanted by the Dodger’s baseball stadium); his 18-year busboy job at an upscale restaurant called The Option; and his mistress, his wife, and his daughter, who all left him when he “ran out of excuses” (2). “What I thought I could not lose,” Hector explains, “was my place in this country. How can you lose something that never belonged to you?” (2).

Hector illuminates the daily process of life as a day laborer, whereby large groups of men congregate in hardware parking lots, waiting for patrons in trucks to select them for jobs. When trucks pull up, the men often jostle one another to be seen, and the pay itself is dismal ($100 for a ten-hour day, at best). Patrons typically favor easily exploitable Mexicans “fresh from the border” (3), and, as Hector explains, laborers must be careful which jobs they choose: “Get in the wrong [truck] and you’re broke, deported, or dead” (5).

Hector usually finds solace in the company of another day laborer named Diego, who is also middle-aged, experienced, and honest. Not only does Hector refrain from jostling other men for jobs, he is friendly and supportive of Hector. When a man named David Tenant and his bouncer-like son, Adam, select Diego but pass over Hector for a job, Diego signals for Hector to wait a minute, as one of their selected laborers starts coughing. The coughing man vomits on himself, and Hector is then chosen to replace him.

The truck takes them to the work site: an old Victorian home they’re tearing down in Angelino Heights, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Hector is assigned the task of putting up a chain-link fence. The other laborers are suspicious of Hector, and he makes sure he remains on their side of the fence as he installs it.

As he works, Hector reflects on the internal frustrations that lead him to cheat on his wife, Felicia, when he was 18. Shortly after they married and moved into their home, Hector felt unsettled and disappointed by his options in life. He then repeatedly slept with Cristina, an attractive 25-year-old supermarket checkout woman. The first time he approached Cristina, she asked where his wife was, and he responded, “I lost her. Have you lost something, too?” (11). When Felicia learned about the affair, she was not pleased, but she was more deeply hurt by Hector’s attempts at reconciliation than the affair itself. She left him within a year of their marriage; as a result, Hector was unable to apply for residency in the United States.

On the worksite that afternoon, Hector witnesses Adam bludgeoning Diego in the head with a sledgehammer. Hector is spotted by Adam and asked to stay behind. The rest of the men are sent home early with the message that there’s been an accident on the site. David Tenant then takes Hector out to dinner at a French restaurant. Hector nervously waits while a man with dark hands brings them a basket of bread.

Hector recalls his experience working at The Option, remarking that these are “his hands” (14). Though he longed for his ex-wife and daughter to be impressed by his position at an upscale establishment, they frequently perceived ways Hector was belittled and overlooked by his superiors. Hector’s second-class treatment was displayed at a closing night party that he invited his daughter, Aurora, to attend. Aurora overheard two higher-level restaurant workers as they gestured toward her father, joking about his “nickname” (18). Aurora shouts at them, demanding to know what her father’s nickname is. Hector slaps her, upset by her insubordination. Aurora responds by defiantly marching through the dining room, carrying a boombox playing Mexican music. At that moment, Hector grimly realized that he’d need to work as a day laborer because the restaurant would never give him a positive reference.

David Tenant pays Hector $500 in cash, explaining that he needs Hector to take care of the “accident.” Tenant gives Hector the sledgehammer Adam used to murder Diego, instructing him to dispose of it. Adam threatens, “One call to La Migra and he’s back to Mexico” (20).

Tenant drives Hector to the Lotus Festival. Hector wanders around, wondering what he should do with the weapon. Amidst the crowd, he sees a woman who reminds him of his daughter, and he realizes he can no longer continue to lie. When a policeman approaches him, he confesses that he has been asked to dispose of a murder weapon, and describes the incident with Diego. Though Hector’s testimony is discarded by the police, he’s still deported to Mexico.