It's That It Hurts By Thomas Rivera Summary

In the story “It’s That It Hurts,” by Tomas Rivera, the protagonist is having a hard time with his life throughout the story. He is hurt emotionally and mentally by the obstacles in his life. At school, he is bullied and feels hurt internally by the words the bully says. This makes him feel as though he does not fit in with anyone and is left as an outsider. As a little kid, the boy wanted to follow his and his dad’s dreams for him in hopes to become a telephone operator. However, his dream got crushed by hitting a kid and perhaps getting expelled from school. After he hit a kid, he is scared that he will get expelled from school, and he does not know what he should tell his parents about the situation. Throughout this story, the protagonist is emotionally and mentally hurt due to the continuous pain and confusion he is suffering through.

In the beginning of the story, the protagonist is getting bullied at school because he is Mexican. This makes him have hurtful feelings inside. “While I was standing there in the restroom he’s the one that started picking on me. ‘...I don’t like Mexicans because they steal. You hear me?’”(page 21, lines 99-102) This …show more content…
After hitting a kid, he feels very uncertain about the action that he made. It has not been confirmed that he is officially expelled from school, but this idea makes him very confused and worried. “But...maybe they didn’t throw me out. What if it’s not true? Maybe not. Sure, it is. What do I tell them? What do I do?”(page 25, lines 211-213) This quote states that the boy is getting confused over if he got expelled or not. This mixed feeling of confusion and uncertainty leads to hurtful feelings inside of him. Being expelled from school is a big deal for him because it could ruin his life with no education and no