The mirror room
After talking to Mr Q, Makina walks into the mirror room, where “in front of her was her back,” which may indicate that her past and present are inverted. It also appears to her that her image invited her “to step through its thresholds,” which represent the nine tests in Aztec mythology that a soul has to pass in order to reach the underworld.
The underground
The various underground spaces in the novel represent the parallel criminal worlds in Mexico and the United States. On her journey to the U.S., Machina is aided by Chucho, a member of the underworld, and protected by the gangster bosses of her local Mexican village. Moreover, living in the underworld also means suffering and struggle, which is revealed at the beginning of the novel when a sinkhole swallows a man and his dog; Makina calls the hole a passage “to the underworld” and “Hell.” Similarly, once the Mexican immigrants have arrived in the United States, they live in a parallel world full of suffering.
The switchboard
Makina operates the switchboard in her village, connecting people and relaying messages in three different languages. The switchboard, therefore, represents the ability of people to connect even though they may be separated by place and by language. Moreover, even though cell phones and other modern technology is on the rise, the villagers are quite fond of their switchboard, which thus also represents the value of tradition.
The corpse
On her journey through the borderlands, Makina sees what she first believes to be a pregnant woman. She takes this for a good omen, as she thinks the woman represents safety and comfort. However, when she comes closer, she realizes that the person is actually “some poor wretch swollen with putrefaction, his eyes and tongue pecked out by buzzards.” The corpse, therefore, represents the dead hopes of migrants who seek a better life in the United States.
Rucksacks
When Herrera describes what migrants typically carry in their rucksacks, he focuses on the vast amount of photos, which represent the bond between the migrants and their families in their homeland. Moreover, the people carry traditional instruments such as a huapango violin or a jaranera harp, which illustrate that they want to stay connected with their culture and traditions. Makina, on the other hand, has packed only the bare minimum, which illustrates that she has confidence in her successful crossing and expects to come home to her mother in a short time. However, she also packed a bar of xithe soap and amaranth cakes, which symbolize her desire to stay connected with her roots.
