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Discussion
Questions for The Last Tortilla and Other Stories
Troncoso, Sergio, The
Last Tortilla and Other Stories,
Downloadable PDF of
Discussion Questions
1. In the story
"Angie Luna," Victor says: "I wasn't a real Mexican, and I
wasn't an American either. . . . I was more like a shadow playing both sides of
the game." How is this a story about
self-identity, not only for Victor but also for Angie? How are they pulled
toward different cultural identities as they live, literally, on the border
between two worlds? Do they each resolve the struggle to define themselves?
What do you think of the choices that Victor and Angie make?
2. "Angie Luna" is also a love story. What does this story say about
love? Is there an 'ephemeral' quality to love affairs that dooms them from the
start? Or is it this heightened passion --which just as easily can lead to a
long-lasting relationship as it can to heartbreak-- that makes love an
unforgettable experience? Why do Victor and Angie love each other? Would they
have to change to stay together? Why or why not?
3. How is "A Rock Trying to be a Stone" a story about moral character and moral choices? The
three boys, Turi, Fernández,
and Joe, face crucial choices at different points in the story. What are those
choices? How do those choices reveal their moral character? How are appearances
deceiving when one is trying to determine somebody's moral character?
4. What beliefs
help Doña Dolores and Don Epifanio,
in "
5. Why does the
author have two timelines intertwined in "Remembering Possibilities"? One in Carlos's present,
and the other in his past? During the attack in his apartment, can Carlos find
any measure of hope or redemption by remembering his love affair with
6. Why is
twelve-year-old Tuyi Martínez,
in "The Snake," an outcast in Ysleta? Describe how Tuyi chooses to be alone to explore the canals and
irrigation ditches of Ysleta, and how he also does not quite fit into his
neighborhood. What separates Tuyi from his home? His curiosity? His intellectual pursuits?
His physical appearance? His shyness
or boldness? What do you think the author might be saying about
"the fat boy everybody ignored," and those like him?
7. What is Don
Ignacio Aragón's "lack of character," in "Time Magician," and how does it often cause him to misplay the
present moment? Explain the roles of the apparitions of Don Aragón's wife,
Rosita, and the boy Rodrigo Peña. Why is the old man
tormented by those ghosts? Why do you think Don Aragón possesses this problem of
anger? What do you think the author is saying about how to find, and not find,
redemption when somebody is living a hard life, with bad luck, and his or her
reactions cause only regrets?
8. In "The Abuelita," what is Lolita's philosophy about her pending death
and how it should affect her life? Why do you think she does not lapse into
despair? How do her views of her fragile mortality differ from what her
grandson Arturo tells her about Heidegger's philosophy of Being-towards-death?
If you have time, you could read a bit about Heidegger's philosophy of death,
which appears at the end of Being and Time, although Heidegger is
notoriously difficult without an introduction.
9. How does the
relationship between Maggie Johnson and Don Chechepe
evolve in "The
Gardener"? What actions, first by
Mrs. Johnson but also by Don Chechepe, prompt a
reconsideration of their employer-employee relationship? How does their
dialogue reveal the changing nature of their relationship?
10. What is the
secret behind Adela Márquez's death in "The Last Tortilla"? How is this secret related to selfish behavior?
After the mother's death, how does the Márquez family
slowly disintegrate into relationships based on 'doing whatever anybody wants'?
Why do you think this slow disintegration of the family occurs? Is anybody
trying to stop it? What things are necessary to maintain a strong family? A giving and loving parent? Honesty?
Sacrifice? Faith in God?
11. Discuss the
ways in which different characters view God and religion in "The Last Tortilla." What does Juanito think of
God's role in the world, and why has he reached those conclusions? What does
Alejandra think of the Christmas festivities? How does Ofelia see the turn of
fate that led to Adela Márquez's death? And how might
Adela herself have seen her faith in God shattered? Did Adela's discovery cause
her 'not to move'? What do you think the author is saying about a person's
religious faith, the good or bad luck somebody might experience in the world, and what becomes of this faith in God?
12. How is the
story "Punching
Chickens" about thirteen-year-old
Manny Padilla crossing the threshold between childhood and adulthood? How does
his relationship with his mother change? His view of money
and work? How does Manny change the way he displays, or hides, his
emotions, even his pain? What part of his job is most important for pushing him
across the threshold into adulthood?
13. In "Day of the Dead," why do you think Michael Ochoa turns himself in? Does
he do the right thing? Describe Michael's relationship with his father, and how
important it is when Michael has to make this crucial decision. What do you
think the author is saying about those like Mr. Chicano, and how some
Mexican-Americans see themselves in relation to Mexicanos?
14. How do you
think Lupe's death causes her employer, Helen Rogers, to cross cultural, class,
and other borders in "Day
of the Dead"? Describe Helen's
relationship with Lupe before her death. What is and is not praiseworthy about
that relationship? Describe the decisions Helen makes after she hears of Lupe's
death. Are they the right decisions? Why does she make them? Do you think those
choices change Helen Rogers in a fundamental way?
15. In "Day of the Dead," describe and analyze the
complex relationship between dreams and death. How does Doña
Rosita, for example, use the death of Don Joaquín to
give her something to hope for beyond her bleak existence? How is the 'dream'
of Helen's prosperous existence shattered by Lupe's death? Is there a
difference between an immediate death and a death long ago in terms of how they
affect your dreams? Why might a poor person and a rich person see death
differently? Or do they ultimately see death the same way?
16. How does the
lack of God in the City, with its initial meaninglessness, affect the narrator
of "My Life in the
City"? For example, how does it
affect his sense of time, his loneliness, and his desire to find somebody to be
with? In what ways does the narrator need or not need God? What kind of life is
left, according to the narrator, without God in the world? What do you think of
this view? Is the nascent faith he and Becky have in each other an answer to
his questions?
Read four of the short stories in The Last Tortilla and Other
Stories: Angie
Luna, The Snake,
A Rock Trying to be
a Stone, and Espíritu Santo.
Essays: Why Should Latinos
Write Their Own Stories? and A Day Without Ideas.