In Victor Martinez`s novel, Parrot in the Oven, the main character has a lot of problems to work through. The main character, Manny, and his family live in the U.S. in Central California. He lives with his mom, dad, older brother, and two sisters. They are all crammed in a small house in a small project. Manny feels he isn`t noticed, so he decides to join a gang. He also does this to feel a part of something. This idea though, brings up new problems in his already-difficult life that he has to work through. One of the main lessons of the story is that if you work hard and persevere through the hard times, you will feel better and achieve more.
In the first chapter, you can start to imagine and see hints of a theme of perseverance. In the story, Manny lives in a small house in a small project in California. His family is struggling with money. Manny has to live in a house with all his siblings, his dad, and mom, with hardly any opportunity to have his own personal time! Manny has so many dreams that can`t happen because of his family`s troubles! Manny`s dad is a huge example of someone that challenges Manny’s perseverance. In the story, his dad is as unpredictable as a wild horse. When his dad worked, he didn`t make much money for his family. Then, once he was let go from his job, the text explains that, “His dad had as much patience as you could prop on a toothpick. When he wasn`t cursing about his old job, or about anything else, you could still feel one curse simmering there under his lips ready to boil over.” Now that his dad doesn`t have a job, his dad doesn`t even want to try to get a new job. All he wants to do is to go to the bar and spend time with his friends. Now, their family is only getting income from Magda, even though her money gets used at the bar by her dad. Manny`s mom doesn`t have a job and just scrubs the house as if she can wash her troubles away, and Bernardo, his brother, can`t hold a job. In the text, it says, “First, he was a dishwasher, then a busboy, then a parking attendant, and finally he was a patty turner for a guy who was never there for more than 10 minutes.” All of these are obstacles that Manny must persevere through with his family.
Due to all of this, Manny has to work hard in the chile fields in his free time to save up his own money. His family can`t help him with money, so now he has to try to do it by himself. His brother and himself were out in the fields for around two hours each time. Do you know how it`s like to be working in an open, hot field just to make only 10 -15 dollars? In the text, it says, “When the sun started scalding the back of our hands, leaving a pocket of heat crawling like a small animal inside our shirts.” In the Hernandez family, if you want something, you have to work hard to do it yourself, so that is what Manny has to do with everything!
Toward the middle of Martinez`s novel, you can start to see the Hernandez`s problems intensify to bigger troubles. First, Manny`s dad starts to go to the bar more often. In the text, it says, “Once he started the binge, he wouldn`t stop until every cent drained from his pockets.” So, Manny`s mom goes to the bar to tell his dad to come home and ends up embarrassing him in front of his friends, or so he says. After that, he is angry. In the text, it explains that he exclaims, “I`ll fix her.” In the novel, it describes that, “Manny`s dad pulls out his rifle from the shelf of his closet, and after checking the loader, begins searching for bullets…” Then, Manny`s dad decides to chase his wife through the neighborhood with a gun. That event leaves Manny and his family without a dad (or husband) for a time because he gets sent to jail. After she feels like she can`t live without him, Manny`s mom decides to use a lot of their few money to bail him out. This is an event that causes their family to descend deeper into more problems.
Also, during these problems, Manny is confronted with more problems from Bobby and Stinky, who sneak up on him while he is out, beat him up, and bully him. Manny has to deal with them every time he is outside while problems with his dad are happening. Manny has to persevere and work hard through these difficulties to get back to his normal life.
After many of the Hernandez`s family`s problems dissolve down to a lower, non-alarming level, Manny creates some of his own personal problems. He wants to be known and be a part of something. Manny knows only one way to do that. On the back of the book, it says, “In Manny`s neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang.” Manny wants respect from people, so he decides to join a gang. When he decides to join the gang, more serious, problems develop and cause Manny`s life to get more difficult. After his bad decision, he has to persevere through the problems he created to solve them and overcome his problems.
While some people argue that persevering through problems and working hard can provide excellence and achievement, others believe that no matter how hard you try to work through things, you will just get the same outcome. While this could be true, I believe that if you persevere through hard situations, you will feel personal pride. This book shows illustrates that point throughout the events of story. In the text, it says, “….And it was wondrous, a place I was meant to be. A place, I felt, that I had come back to after a long journey of being away. My home. ” After Manny solved and worked through his problems, he could come home to just rest without anything to worry about.
While Manny was sitting in his dad`s comfy chair in their living room, he just sat peacefully and looked around to take in everything he had just finished. In the text, it says, ” And I will never again see anything so wondrous…the squiggly TV, the lumpy cherub angels on the frame of the painting, the glass-top coffee table…” After all his experiences he just faced, he could finally feel at home and had gained a sense of achievement. If you persevere through difficult times, then you will feel more pride and achieve more.