The central differences between Antonio's parents are
outlined in the first chapter, where we are introduced to Antonio and his family. It is
clear that his parents stand for two different ways of life that will do much to impact
Antonio, in particular in the way that he feels pressurised by both of them to follow
their particular background and heritage rather than the heritage of the other. Note
what we are told about the father:
My father had been a vaquero all his life, a
calling as ancient as the coming of the Spaniard to Nuevo Mejico. Even after the big
rancheros and the tejanos came and fenced the beautiful llano, he and those like him
continued to work there, I guess because only in that wide expanse of land and sky could
they feel the freedom their spirits
needed.
Thus the Marez
influence with Antonio comes from his father, and is captured in the wide open plains
that his father loves to wander in, without feeling attached or tied down anywhere. His
mother, by contrast, comes from the Luna family:
My mother was not a woman of the llano, she was
the daughter of a farmer.
It
is her hope that Antonio will become a priest for the Luna family and will move to the
land of her family, living and working there. The conflict between the mother and father
finds an interesting arena in the person of Antonio himself, as he feels the different
expectations that his parents have of him and how he is pulled between the two different
backgrounds and heritages in his life.
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