Tropic of Orange

Rafaela is Bobby’s wife and Sol’s mother. Rafaela grew up in Yucatan, Mexico, before becoming an undocumented immigrant in the United States. Rafaela is kind and intelligent. She earned her degree at Los Angeles City College with Gabriel’s guidance and sponsorship. Rafaela and Bobby got into a major argument, prior to the beginning of the novel, so she took Sol and ran away to Mexico, taking up residence at Gabriel’s unoccupied dream house near the Tropic of Cancer in Mazatlán.

Rafaela stumbles into the human organ trafficking plot that Gabriel is pursuing. She inadvertently steals a baby heart from her neighbor Doña Maria’s son, Hernando, and flees North. On the bus, she and Sol meet Arcangel, who treats them kindly and agrees to take care of Sol if anything happens to Rafaela. Hernando kidnaps Rafaela, separating her from Sol. Rafaela fights with Hernando in a struggle that takes on mythical proportions and culminates in her lying bloody and beaten by the side of the road. The violence of the fight between Hernando and Rafaela is symbolic of the violence inflicted upon the indigenous people of Mexico. The fact that Hernando sexually assaults her is a reminder of the sexual violence women in colonized nations faced.