Genre
Memoir
Setting and Context
The text begins in Mexico in the 1980s, when Rigoberto was a young boy.
Narrator and Point of View
The narrator is Rigoberto, who offers a marginalized perspective.
Tone and Mood
The tone is sentimental, thoughtful and philosophical.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is Rigoberto, while the antagonist is the stigma about gay men in Mexico
Major Conflict
The major conflict is Rigoberto's experience of his sexuality.
Climax
The death of Rigoberto's mother is a key event in the text.
Foreshadowing
Rigoberto foreshadows his later academic thinking about the pressures of masculinity with a scene where the family are shooting guns.
Understatement
Rigoberto argues that the presence of the gay experience is understated in traditional discourse.
Allusions
Rigoberto alludes to the traditional cultural practice of retablos.
Imagery
The imagery of blood is used to show the pain and passion of writing.
Paradox
It is a paradox that the term mariposa is used as an insult, due to its beautiful associations.
Parallelism
Rigoberto explains that the transformation of a mariposa is often paralleled with the experience of gay men "coming out."
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
