People of the Dog (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Alma Villanueva
- First Published: 1990
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: The late twentieth century
- Setting: Mexico City
- Principal Characters: The boy, A young man, The baby wind god, A social worker
- Genres: Social realism, Short fiction
- Subjects: Twentieth century, Poverty or poor people, Child abuse, Native Americans or American Indians, Inner cities or inner-city life, Gods or goddesses, Mexico or Mexicans, Aztecs, Orphans or orphanages
- Locales: Mexico City, Mexico
The Story
An unnamed boy comes to Mexico City to escape an abusive home, where the new man takes his food, hits him with his fists until he bleeds, and threatens to kill him. His mother tells him tearfully to go to the city, where she hopes he will survive. Almost ten years old, the boy sleeps with four other boys, two of them younger, all of them tormented, and one of them raped by older boys.
In his fantasy, the little boy sees a young man, “his entire body . . . tattooed with snakes, birds and circles . . . with the wind god clinging to his back.” The young man...
[The entire page is 1376 words long]
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