Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano MariposaWinner of the American Book Award |
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BUTTERFLY BOY: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa
User Review - KirkusPoignant, heartfelt memoir of a gay Latino immigrant's coming-of-age, played out against a relentless backdrop of abuse and neglect. Poet, novelist and children's author González (So Often the Pitcher ... Read full review
Review: Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa
User Review - Yasmin - GoodreadsThis was an interesting book, but I felt as if portions of the story were left out. I wanted to know more of why this boy seemed to blame everything on his father. A father that by no means was ... Read full review
Contents
| 3 | |
| 10 | |
| 17 | |
| 19 | |
Ghost Whisper to My Lover | 38 |
Childhood and Other Language Lessons | 41 |
Bakersfield California 197072 | 43 |
Zacapu México 197279 | 47 |
Adolescent Mariposa | 113 |
Ghost Whisper to My Lover | 115 |
Indio 198388 El Campo Years | 119 |
Zacapu Days and Nights of the Dead | 163 |
Summers Passage | 165 |
Ghost Whisper to My Lover | 175 |
Zacapu July 1990 Imago | 178 |
Unpinned | 193 |
Thermal California 197980 | 55 |
Thermal 198182 Our Little Home on Top of the Garage | 67 |
Summers Passage | 100 |
Riverside California | 195 |
Ghost Whisper to My Lover | 204 |
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Common terms and phrases
afternoon already arrived asked aunt became become began begins body break brother called close coming cousins didn’t don’t door drive entire eyes face fact father feel felt fields find first followed friends front give glasses going grandfather grandmother grandparents grape hair hand happened head hear heard imagine inside keep kids knew later learned leave letters light living look lover months morning mother mouth moved never night once parents passed pick play pulled quickly reach remember rest says seat shoulder side simply sitting sleep soon stand stay step stop story street talk tell things thought told took turned United voice waiting walked watch week window woman young
Popular passages
Page vii - Children begin by loving their parents. After a time, they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
Page 25 - Not only was he missing out on beer time with his buddies, he was also entertaining my mother's crazy notion about becoming just another woman driver. I knew about my mother's will to learn because of her second endeavor. Since she had enrolled in night school, taking English classes at the elementary school I attended during the day, I was forced to go with her. For the longest time I didn't understand why since she only had to walk across the street. Years later I...
Page 24 - I myself didn't get any lessons from him until my sophomore year of high school, the day before I was scheduled to go behind the wheel for driver's ed class. Even then I begged, afraid I'd embarrass myself (which I did anyway) in front of the instructor and the other students. My father agreed to take me out to maneuver through the back roads a few evenings and whenever he slammed his 24 fist against the dashboard I had flashbacks of his teaching technique with my mother.
Page 25 - My father didn't necessarily subscribe to the stereotypical sexist notions of the Mexican male, but he was somewhat of a stereotype himself: he drank, stayed out late, and came home penniless, the sullen drunk, to ask for my mother's forgiveness. My mother could have taken advantage of his vulnerability but she didn't, which always surprised me. Like the good suffering wife, she forgave him. Perhaps this was why my father's sensibilities didn't soften when he took my mother out for instruction.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa Writing in Latinidad: Autobiographical Voices of U.S. Latinos/as |
| Author | Rigoberto González |
| Publisher | Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2006 |
| ISBN | 0299219038, 9780299219031 |
| Length | 224 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Biography & Autobiography / Cultural, Ethnic & Regional / General Biography & Autobiography / General Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / Hispanic American Studies Social Science / LGBTQ+ Studies / Gay Studies |
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