mportant and can be overlooked in some social sense is apparent in the attitude toward sexuality as well, as can be seen in the character of Salvador, who embodies male and female without attracting much attention or concern, as the narrator indicates when she says,
He fascinates me too. In spite of his effeminate gestures, Salvador is married, the hardworking father of seven. I know he has eyes for my brother Raul (Hagedorn 80).
The same thing applies to the narrator's uncle:
Uncle Panchito likes to wear dresses and other women's clothes from time to time. He often wins "Most Original" at those transvestite beauty contests he goes to with my mother (Hagedorn 81).
Opposites are thus combined in characters and situations throughout the novel so that differences are not erased but blurred until they no longer matter.
The subject of this novel is not simply the story of the characters but the story of
...