Defeats but not Defeated in "The Parrot in the Oven" by Victor Martinez

969 Words2 Pages

Maya Angelou once said “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”(http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/maya-angelou-quotes.html) Most of these defeats that we encounter come from our choices, and whether they are good or bad, we learn something from them. Accordingly, Manny Hernandez, the hard-working, perceptive title role in the Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez, has his fair share of difficulties thrown his way: difficulties that show him who he is, and how to become the best person he can- a vato firme.

To start, guns and violence have a strong impact on Manny’s life, which basically begins with his father. In one instance, Manny is babysitting his younger sister, Pedi. She proves hard to entertain once she realizes their sister, Magda, has mysteriously disappeared, and the rest of the family is elsewhere. While Pedi sleeps, Manny becomes curious as to why his father loves his gun so much, since he has lied to keep the illegal weapon and had gotten arrested for it. As Manny examines the rifle, Pedi wakes up and searches the house for her brother. When Manny sees her, the gun fires accidently, and Manny thinks, “Pedi was dead, I knew it. The way she fell back on the floor, she could only be dead...thinking I’d see a gory dash where the bullet hit her head” (Page 100). Suddenly, Pedi starts crying, and Manny places the gun where it originally has sat and soothes his startled sister. Later, Manny cannot get the incident out of his head and finds the bullet in the cooler. His curiosity about the gun probably comes from the fact that his father, who has a lea...

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...elong, which comforted him. In this situation, Manny was alerted to the misconceptions of trying to become respected through crime and robbery. He discovered that by solving a situation with one of these options will get you nowhere, and guarantees you to fail, since it is the easy way out. Hence, Manny has new-found courage, since he has discovered himself through trying to go a totally different approach to his goal, and he knows his family is where he will always belong, no matter what happens.

In conclusion, Manny Hernandez learns a lot in his lifetime. Crime and violence, as he finds in his many experiences, only endanger the ones he loves most, and does not get anyone anywhere. All in all, the only way to become a “million dollar man”, as Manny’s father puts it, is to have courage in yourself and know what your values are, especially if it includes family.

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