Tragic Loss
In Viramontes' short stories, "The Cariboo Cafe" and "Neighbors", you begin to find a similarity in two of the main characters. The cafe owner, from "The Cariboo Cafe" and Fierro, from "Neighbors", are two men who have both suffered the loss of a son. The cafe owner's son, JoJo, died in Vietnam, and Fierro's son, Chuy, was attacked and stabbed. Both of these men have many problems emotionally in dealing with this loss. They have both isolated themselves from other people, and have trouble taking care of themselves. In Viramontes short stories, "The Cariboo Cafe" and "Neighbors", Viramontes illustrates her belief in how men have exceptional difficultly in dealing with the emotions subsequent to immense loss. Viramontes short story, "The Cariboo Cafe", opens with a young boy and girl locked out of their home. The young boy will later be referred to by the cafe owner as "short order". The two children later seek refuge in what they call the "zero-zero place", due to the wearing off of the letters on the cafe's sign. Later in the story the narrator perspective changes from the children to the cafe owner. The cafe owner is an older divorced man who runs a small cafe. He has been divorced from his wife Nell for an unde
Maybe why I let him hang out is 'cause he's JoJo's age. He was afraid of "finding Chuy's body limp and bloody once again. Paulie is an illegal immigrant in his mid-thirties who is a regular at the cafe. While shaving one morning Fierro is reminded of a time that Chuy sat and watched him shave. Viramontes further explains her belief in how men have exceptional difficultly in dealing with the emotions subsequent to immense loss in her story, "Neighbors". (70)" This lack of confidence to make a decision by himself really exemplifies how he is growing detached due to his son's death. When the cafe owner realizes that the two small children in his cafe are missing he is very flustered and says that "if Nell was here, she'd know what to do: call the cops. This is an extremely vivid memory of how Fierro remembers angrily announced his disapproval of his son "running the streets. (112)" Fierro's practice of turning off his hearing shows how he is now deliberately isolating himself from the rest of society. Chuy fought hard before his death, grabbing a 2 by 4 and attempting to defend himself. When the two small children seek refuge from the streets in the cafe the owner is immediately reminded of his son when he sees the small boy. Fierro continues to walk turning his hearing off again to prepare himself "for the long walk across the ruins that still danced with Chuy's ghost. All of Fierro's neighbors believe that he has gone insane. (111)"Fierro is being constantly haunted by his memories of his son.
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