Hug
Magariel writes, “He (his father) pulled me close, put his arms around me, patted my back to the rhythm of the wipers. It was an awkward hug. The kind of embrace you give to a grieving stranger.” It’s OK, son,” He said. “It’s OK.” He sat me up.” The hug comes after a discussion about the narrator’s fight with his mother. Describing the hug as awkward implies that it is not absolutely comforting or heartfelt.
Spirit
The narrator’s father explains, “There was something down here, something in the sunsets, in the mountains, the people. The Indian way of life. I call it… the spirit. I guess I’m returning to one of the happiest periods in my life. I am here to find the spirit again.” The spirit connotes the happiness which he expects to find in Albuquerque. He yearns to recover the contentment which he delighted in during his youth. The culture and ambiance in Albuquerque is thrilling for him.
Sin
The narrator’s brother imitates their father: “Your first fight, son…You’re not a child anymore. Welcome to manhood. You carry your own sins now.” Sins are emblematic of the consequences of the narrator’s action (of fighting) of which the narrator’s father would expect him to take responsibility. The father would expect him to be accountable because he is not a kid.
Privacy
The narrator recounts, “I jumped. My heart raced. I turned to my father. He had a metal pipe in his hand, and just behind him on the nightstand where there was a plate of white powder, a box of baking soda, a lighter, a spoon. The fear of punishment consumed me. I’d broken my father’s golden rule-privacy.” This encounter takes place in Magariel’s father’s bedroom. The narrator breaks into the room to search for money. His father immensely values his privacy that is why he locks it and punishes whoever goes in there without his consent. Magariel’s father has secrets which he would not want his son to unravel what is why he considers privacy his foremost rule.
Stroking
The narrator informs the social worker, “I was staying at my mom’s apartment. I had a nightmare, and I went to her room and woke her up…It was a terrible dream though. I told her I was scared, and she said I could sleep with her…When I woke up like an hour later…my mom’s hand was down my boxers. She was touching me, like stroking me.” The narrator makes up this story, probably with his father’s instruction, to portray his mother as a sexually irresponsible woman who would abuse her son. Appealing to Oedipal politics would discredit the mother’s credibility and increase her husband’s chances of separating their sons from her. Magariel’s father brainwashes him so he can tarnish his mother’s integrity.
