"Cariboo Cafe"

The Cariboo Café

Helena Maria Viramontes

            “And I laugh at his ignorance. How stupid of him to think that I will let them take my Geraldo away just because he waves that gun like a flag. Well, to hell with you, you pieces of shit, do you hear me? Stupid, cruel pigs. To hell with you all, because you can no longer frighten me. I will fight you for my son until I have no hands left to hold a knife. I will fight you all because you’re farted out the devil’s ass, and you’ll not take us with you. I am laughing, howling at their stupidity because they should know by now that I will never let my son go” (79).

            This passage is unique to the story because the reader discovers that this story is so much more than the hardships of immigrant life in America. Not only is it difficult for the immigrants to move to a foreign country in which they cannot read, write, or speak the language, but it is also hard to raise a family in this foreign culture. The narrator of this passage struggles to adjust to her life in America because she can’t read or write. In addition, her son was taken from her. This passage describes the desperate despair that she is forced to endure. She takes these surrogate children as her own because she cannot cope with the loss of her son. Her son, Geraldo, was taken when she sent him down the street for a mango. The guilt that she feels in addition to her maternal instincts compel her to care for these children. Sonya and Macky are alone on the street because Sonya lost her key and their parents haven’t arrived home from work yet. They get lost trying to find their way back to their babysitter’s. When Geraldo’s mother finds them, she takes them in as her own to compensate for the care she could not give to her own son. Despite the missing child reports, the owner of the Cariboo Café neglects to inform the cops that he has seen the children because he views the mother figure as maternal and warm. The owner is also trying to compensate for the loss of his son by taking care of the stragglers and criminals that become the regulars at his café. He hasn’t been able to cope with the fact that his son was killed in Vietnam so he over compensates with others.

            When the police arrive at the café, the narrator’s maternal instincts kick into overdrive as she desperately tries to defend herself and “her children.” She is rude and impulsive. Her anger consumes her and she can no longer think rationally. In the end, the police kill her and she comments that she is going home to her son. She is finally given the opportunity to be home with her son.

Is it possible that her plan was to be killed all alone? When she spoke earlier in the story, she said that she was too weak to take her own life. It would make sense that she sees Sonya and Macky as an opportunity not to provide maternity, but as to finally reunite with her son.