Efrén Divided

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2020

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-16

Chapters 17-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Themes

The Fight for Humanitarianism, Tolerance, and Justice

The author builds a strong theme of fighting for humanitarianism and tolerance throughout the novel. Initially, protagonist Efrén is not directly involved in the fight, but is a witness to rumors of raids and arrests. He hears these when he helps Amá at the laundromat, but to him, the stories of Amá’s friends are more chisme (gossip) than fact. Soon, Jennifer inspires him at school; she shares with Efrén, “Mi mama no tiene papeles” (30), and that her worry about her mother’s undocumented status prompted her research into “undocumented families being separated. They had kids in cages […] and that really hurt” (29). Jennifer’s comparison to cage-free chickens and her mother’s Mexican saying about seeds stay with Efrén and serve as the foundation for the call to action he later feels.

After ICE deports Efrén’s mother, and throughout the rising action of the novel, Efrén holds on to hope that money and coyote arrangements will bring Amá home. He also, however, starts to feel a subtle urge to learn more about immigration, separation, and deportment conflicts on a larger scale. He turns to the internet, but his searches only raise more questions and prove to him that the problems are far-reaching and ongoing: “He clicked on articles—sometimes videos—of people being taken from the workplace, hospitals, even homes. Talk of a giant new wall came up repeatedly” (102). The experience makes Efrén afraid for Apá, who is late from work, and causes him to envision in the water-stained ceiling tiles an image of “North America, broken in half” (103).

When Efrén tells Mr. Garrett the truth about his missed assignment and inability to serve detention, it inspires the teacher with renewed energy to initiate a unit on tolerance and humanitarianism: “We will be reading and hearing true accounts of people who risked their own lives to help complete strangers. Humanity at its finest” (112). As Efrén considers the message of Gandhi, “We but mirror the world (116) and the way Mr. Garrett paraphrases it, “Be the change you want to see” (117), Efrén connects the fight for justice to the school elections; he has a disturbing feeling that David will squander the position of president when the role could be used as a platform for progress, awareness, and change.

Efrén’s experiences in Tijuana continue the theme of tolerance and justice. He sees the separated family members at the Muro and realizes that nothing about being born in the US makes him superior: “His place of birth didn’t change anything about him. It didn’t make him better than anyone else. It just made him…lucky” (192). Late in the novel, with the painful knowledge that he and his family will not see Amá anytime soon, Efrén’s realizations and experiences come together, along with the encouragement of his friends, to convince him to serve as school president. He feels, strongly and organically now, the sentiment expressed by Jennifer’s saying: “Nos quisieron enterrar, pero no sabian que eramos semillas (They tried to bury us, but didn’t realize we were seeds” (30). The narrative implies that Efrén will use this adage as a rally cry for whatever small changes he can make in the world: “There would be no quitting today. No, for all the semillitas like him, he couldn’t stay buried any longer” (248).

Personal Sacrifice for Family

Efrén knows how much his parents, and especially Amá, do the family at the outset of the novel; he calls Amá “Soperwoman” to himself, acknowledging and respecting her ability to feed, clothe, and make the family members content while also working long factory hours. Once authorities deport Amá, though, Efrén must make the same sacrifices of time, work, skill, and patience in tending to his young brother and sister. He tries his best in the kitchen with minimal food supplies and turns to outside resources like the school breakfast program when he realizes it is in the best interest of the twins. He risks being caught stealing food from the lunch trash at his school to provide the twins with snacks. His homework goes undone, and he has little time for reading, a great passion of Efrén’s. Knowing the dangers of revealing too much about his family’s situation, he keeps the secret of Amá’s deportation mostly to himself, telling only Mr. Garrett; Efrén does not benefit, therefore, from the help and comfort his friends and guardians might offer, like David and Mrs. Solomon.

In sacrificing so much for his family, Efrén’s awareness and appreciation of the sacrifices his parents make daily—working strenuous jobs, having little personal time, even foregoing food to give as much as possible to the children—grows. Efrén does not see the bigger picture of sacrifice, though, until he visits Tijuana. Making another sacrifice, he takes a dangerous trip to bring Amá the money she needs to attempt crossing back into the US. While there, he sees firsthand the scope and magnitude of the problem of family separation at the border fence. He comes to a much deeper understanding of the ways family members might give up everything for those they love when he hears Lalo’s personal history. When he tells the border agent he was in Mexico to visit his mother, the agent whispers to Efrén, “These forms…represent a giant sacrifice from your parents […] Don’t let it go to waste” (209). After his experiences with missing Amá and trying nobly to fill the void her absence causes, Efrén has a much more mature and certain comprehension of the border agent’s words. Efrén’s deeper understanding is evident when on the way home from Tijuana, he asks Apá to tell him the story behind his and Amá’s decision to leave Mexico.

Miracles Versus Reality

Efrén thinks of his mother’s skill in preparing meals as milagros (miracles)—she can touch the skillet with her bare fingers, flip tortillas using her hands instead of a spatula, and most of all, make filling, delicious meals with little available. The first time Efrén tries to make a breakfast for the twins, he sees the few ingredients available and thinks, “If Amá were here, she’d roll up her sleeves and wave her wooden spoon and make a milagro happen” (37). She also manages to make the apartment a place where the family can be happy. Without Amá there, however, the size of the apartment and its tattered possessions show themselves to Efrén in a way he never noticed before: “Never before had his home felt so small, so poor. His family didn’t have much, but somehow, Amá had managed to keep this fact from really sinking in” (81).

These daily miracles Efrén appreciates more and more deeply as the days march on without Amá. Later, inspired by Amá’s many miracles, Efrén’s resourcefulness allows him to create six tacos for the price of three, and he calls it “a milagro of his own” (78). On the day of Amá’s supposed homecoming, Apá hears from Efrén that Amá always manages to make Max’s clothes fit: “More milagros” (227). To Efrén, his mother’s many milagros make her a superhero, and soon he realizes Apá with his extraordinary strength and resilience is superhero-like as well.

Efrén’s sense of hope allows him to look confidently toward Amá’s homecoming not once but twice in the rising action of the story. Gradually, though, after two heartbreaking attempts to get Amá home, Efrén realizes that Amá’s journey is filled with dangers and pitfalls, and that the obstacles—checkpoints, dishonest coyotes, the law—are real and significant. This sense of reality Efrén develops juxtaposes against his belief in all of the little everyday miracles Amá created; the unspoken truth is that only a substantial miracle can get Amá home easily and quickly, and there are no miracles to be found.

Now, Efrén must regain his sense of hope from inspirations in his new reality: Jennifer comes back to school, he and David repair their friendship, he will accept the job and responsibility of school president. Efrén learns that, with time and effort, a combination of his work, his hope, and his belief in milagros as “Soperboy” will result in change.