Essay On The Book Of Unknown Americans By Henrquez

Have you ever questioned your ability to make the right decision for someone you love? The novel The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henrquez is about a girl named Maribel who goes through a traumatic brain injury. Alma, the mother who feels guilty for what happened to Maribel, pushes for her family to move from Mexico to Delaware in an apartment building, where she meets a boy named Mayor. He starts to develop feelings for Maribel. Mayor Alma sees Maribel differently and what she needs to do to heal. Alma and Mayor both show immense love for Maribel and want what is best for her, but they both go about it differently. Mayor Maribel's treatment is driven by his earnest love for her; he views her normally regardless of her injury. Towards the middle of the novel, Mayor is thinking about Maribel and how Alma treats her like “a caged bird who no one trusted …show more content…
Mayor Maribel wants to be exposed to the real world and live through the experiences everyone else has. He loves Maribel and wants to spend more time with her, but finds it difficult because Alma makes Maribel go to school and come straight home. Since the Mayor only knows Maribel after the accident, instead of viewing her as someone who needs to be fixed, he sees her as someone you need to learn more about. After getting to know her for a while, he picked up “that she was listening even when it seemed like she wasn’t” (Henrquez 108). This shows the Mayor does not see Maribel as someone who needs special help. When he first thought she was “intimidating and aloof,” he now realizes that her behavior is not personal (108). Understanding who she is, he wishes that she could see what he sees in her: “‘You shouldn’t want to be like everybody else. Then you wouldn’t be like you” (113). This shows that Mayor Maribel loves her just as she is. Instead of seeing her as someone who needs to be fixed, he appreciates who she