The Guardians

The novel begins with an exploration of Identity in the Borderlands. The author introduces Regina and Rafa through the framework of their divergent but related cultural identities, and through the contrast that she provides between these siblings, she begins to paint a portrait of Chicano identity that is complex and multi-valent and resists stereotypes. Regina’s adult life is, in many ways, defined by her family’s choice to cross the US-Mexico border and join the US’s large Mexican American population. She is proud of her Mexican roots, but she also enjoys the opportunities that living in the US has provided her, and she sees strengths and benefits in both cultures. Although she does not feel comfortable adopting the political identity of Chicana, she is aware of the way that Indigenous history has shaped the Borderlands as a region and her own family tree; she has both Indigenous and Hispanic ancestry and sees her hybridity as a positive attribute. Rafa, on the other hand, does not want to identify as American, and he is so proud of his Mexican identity that he wants his son, Gabo, to share it. He makes sure that the two spend as much time in Mexico as they do in the US in the hope that Gabo does not become a “gringo”—a mark of assimilation into American society. Regina observes that “he’s been back and forth across that desert, dodging the border patrol so many times, you wouldn’t think he’d need a coyote no more” (4), reflecting the danger of his situation and underlining his desire to maintain a cultural connection to his home country. These early references to border patrol and coyotes foreshadow Rafa’s disappearance.

The border becomes an important motif in these early chapters. In addition to the way that crossing the border shapes identity for both Regina and Rafa, Castillo depicts it as a space of danger and violence. The increasing presence of cartels in the region has become a distinct danger to border crossers and families who live on one side of the border or the other. Gabo’s mother, Ximena, died during a crossing, falling victim to organ traffickers, and as the novel begins, Rafa has also disappeared during a crossing of his own. Regina receives a call from the coyotes who ferried him across the border, and that call becomes an inciting incident within the narrative: Regina and Miguel begin a search for Rafa that will conclude only at the end of the novel. Castillo thus shows the way that violence along the border impacts and shapes life for Borderlands communities, and this violence will ultimately become a catalyst for Regina and Miguel’s interest in social justice and grassroots organizing and action.

Regina’s character is rich and complex, and although she has real emotional depth and engages with serious issues within the narrative, she is also playful and lighthearted. The levity that her get-rich-quick schemes provide is meant to counter heavy topics like femicide and disappearances, and she becomes a testament to the way that life endures through attunement to small pleasures, even in the face of systemic violence. Her decision to start selling pecan pies is an early example of her ingenuity, but it also helps her bond with Miguel.

Family and Community becomes an important theme through Castillo’s depiction of Regina’s dedication to Gabo and also through Regina’s narration. She overtly discusses the importance of family, and her articulation of belonging as a cultural value is an important moment of representation in this text. Media depictions of the Borderlands often focus on the region’s violence and “illegal” immigration, but Regina’s devotion to family and her assertion that family and belonging are important parts of Mexican and Mexican American culture are meant to counter these negative narratives.

Castillo also introduces Miguel in these chapters, and his characterization is already complex and multifaceted. Miguel introduces himself through the framework of his interest in social justice and the civil rights movement. As a young man, he is fascinated by various civil rights movements of the 1960s and wishes that he had been born several decades earlier so that he could have participated in them. He is personally invested in Chicano rights but draws connections between that movement and other civil rights groups like the American Indian Movement. He understands identity as inherently political, and it is obvious even in these early chapters that he cares about social justice and wants to help his community.