Into the Beautiful North

Luis Alberto Urrea

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2009

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Chapters 19-21

Chapters 22-24

Chapters 25-27

Chapters 28-30

Chapters 31-33

Chapters 34-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

Reality and Illusion

The Mexican characters in Into the Beautiful North all have a certain degree of ignorance that stems from a lack of experience. They are all naïve about something and from this ignorance comes grand illusions of what el Norte is like. Most of them assume (except Irma) that el Norte must be better than Tres Camarones, as a lot of them leave for a “better” life. It is appropriate that the most “naïve” of the town (the youth) must go experience firsthand that their impressions are illusions. That way, they will appreciate their home even more when they return and, as a result, may end up being as patriotic as Irma, the only character that had been in el Norte and returned to Tres Camarones. Urrea may be suggesting that disillusionment may be necessary in order for true happiness to be realized. Broken illusions are also necessary for growth and maturity, as this is what essentially has Nayeli grow up, once her illusions of Matt and her father are shattered. Irma understood that she had to learn these things for herself, rather than being told the truth. Some things are only learned through experience.

Senseless Racial Boundaries

The racial blurring in this story happens in several different ways. The Tres Camaronians are mistaken for Middle-Easterners and even when they are with Mexicans, they are treated as though they are not “kin”. Irma holds the same prejudices towards South Americans as Americans have of Mexicans. In some instances, Americans are equally as kind to the warriors as their own families would be. At one point in the novel, Nayeli even thinks of herself as white. All of this confusion serves to demonstrate that people are people, regardless of skin color or nationality. This makes the border between Mexico and the US even more absurd; that somehow, the fence, that is such a thin line separating groups of people, somehow makes them so different from each other.

The “New Feminine”

Despite all of the racial stereotyping that happens in the novel, gender discrimination is not as prevalent as one would expect. Rather, because the men of Tres Camarones are almost non-existent, the women of the village have had to be everything to each other. Rather than having the men that do remain keeping typical “leadership” roles, Irma is voted as the new Municipal President, and preaches the new feminism to the women of Tres Camarones. The “training” that Nayeli had as a youth (in sports and martial arts) has served to equip her to take care of herself. She protects her three friends more than once by battling against men, and winning. She flips the idea of femininity on its head.

Yet, the irony exists that they feel the need to go and collect Mexican men to become protectors of them. As much as Irma may feel that men are “useless”, this stems from being broken hearted by one. Technically, if all of the women of Tres Camarones were “trained” like Nayeli, they could probably fight off the bandidos, so that cannot be the whole reason that they are seeking Mexican men. Logically, their community cannot grow without reproduction, but it is more about having the diverse range of humanity present in their village: that men and women must coexist together as they each have their own gifts and aptitudes to share.