Struggle for Identity: Margarita, Archilde, and John Grady

At the beginning of class today (Wednesday) Nick asked us if we had noticed any similarities between "The Plum Plum Pickers" and any of the books we had previously read. We didn't come up with an extensive list as a class but right as class ended I thought of something that we have seen in multiple books. Today we briefly discussed the chapter dedicated to Margarita where she explains her experience at school.  There is one point in that chapter where Margarita discusses her difficulties at school and struggles with her sense of identity, "Where did she belong then? Back in her mother's hometown? Her father's? In Salpinango? In Guadalajara? Would they send her back there? But what if she wasn't from there, from any of those places either? . . . She was California born" (102). In this scene Margarita is struggling with her sense of national identity. She doesn't feel American despite being born in America and she doesn't identify with Mexico (describing that Mexico is as foreign to her as Belgium). This struggle with identity reminded me of Archilde's struggle. Archilde had trouble finding a sense of place outside of the compound (because he was Indian) and inside the compound (because he was mixed race). I also noticed a similarity between Margarita and John Grady Cole. John Grady left Texas because there was nothing left there for him. He didn't own a ranch and despised the city where his mother lived. When John Grady traveled to Mexico he fit in on the ranch but was still a foreigner in the eyes of his boss and the other Mexican citizens. All three of these Western characters lack a sense of identity and question who they really are.