The Cariboo Café (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Helena María Viramontes
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Children, Police, Restaurants, bars, taverns, or pubs, 1980’s, Inner cities or inner-city life, Central America or Central Americans, Latinos, Aliens, illegal, Locks or keys
- Locales: United States, El Salvador
“The Cariboo Café” is a powerful short work that is representative of many of Viramontes's fictional concerns and techniques. The story is complicated by a shifting point of view, which moves from past to present without explanation, and readers may have some difficulty following the plot initially. However, this technique is exactly what Viramontes wants the reader to feel in order to experience the kind of displacement and alienation that her characters share. The first section of the three-part story is told from somewhere within six-year-old Sonya, who is supposed to be taking...
[The entire page is 1243 words long]
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