118 pages • 3 hours read
Matt de la PeñaWe Were Here
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
Coming of Age
While this narrative deals primarily with the impact of the repercussions of institutionalization upon young people, it also details some of the realizations involved with the process of reaching maturity in contemporary American culture. This idea permeates the text in a number of ways. For example, early in the story, Miguel describes a parting with his mother, when he is admitted to juvenile hall, that is devoid of all emotional affect. His mother wordlessly transports him to the facility in order to begin his sentence, and Miguel realizes that he is unlikely to see her again for a long time. He perceives his mother from a more dispassionate stance than usual. As he is led away by guards, he realizes “how mad pretty [his] mom is” (6). Subsequently, when he and Rondell are peering at the streets of Tijuana from across the border, Miguel observes a Mexican boy of his own age attempting to sell wares from the street, “[b]ut nobody stopped at his stand” (217). This is the commencement of Miguel’s perspective on the random nature of good fortune; he realizes that he was lucky to be born on the other side of the border and that he had not been sufficiently appreciative of his own life in the past.
This concept is revisited during the ride with Mei-li, who is Mong’s cousin. The young woman waxes philosophical about life and the fact that growing up involved losing her sense of being “special.” She has come to realize that she is just a “lonely, flawed person like everybody else” (88). While Mei-li retains some idealism regarding her romantic relationship, she appears to have come to a realistic conclusion about adult life: she feels that much of it is merely boring and uneventful. She alludes to the loss of a sense of magic that comes with late childhood, noting that awareness of the mythical nature of characters such as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny represents the beginning of a series of disappointments that accompany age. She alludes to the same sense of regret accompanying awareness that parents are possessed of human flaws, only to be followed by the realization that her own life would not be “so special” (88).
Ambivalence Toward Relationships
As Miguel begins to view his important relationship retrospectively, it’s clear that he has had the very human experience of ambivalence toward those to whom he is closest. It’s also clear from the outset that some portions of his feelings toward his older brother, Diego, verge on hero worship; however, there are parts of the text that reflect different feelings. Specifically, Miguel recalls Diego as being a frequent, facile liar, who could “[f]ool anybody, anytime. Anyplace” (10). Also, he makes frequent references to the intensity of the physical altercations that Diego would instigate with him, and his recollections of his mother’s fear of these events and requests that they be stopped. He also recalls the times that Diego “whupped” (22) him.
Conversely, he idolizes Diego for his ability to attract beautiful girls, seemingly without effort. He recalls numerous occasions when Diego would charm a girl who was annoyed at him into “blowing him dumb-ass kisses” (36). Miguel also recalls how much he adored Diego as a child, when all he wanted to do was spend his time “[f]ollowing my big bro around” (34).
The narrator remembers his late father with similar ambivalence, recalling that he had “cared so much” (34) about him as a little boy. Conversely, when he hears Mei-li’s love story about the youthful courtship of Mong’s parents, Miguel compares it with the story of his own parents. His father had once described his mother’s involvement with a Mexican husband as “slumming gone too far” (93). Similarly, his father had once humiliated Miguel by participating in a father-son basketball game while his father was attired in Army fatigues and work boots. Nonetheless, the older man had spent time after the game patiently counseling high school seniors about the merits of military service. All of these memories serve to illustrate to Miguel the imperfection of all human relationships; he comprehends this idea better by the story’s end.
The Acceptance of Mortality
Although Miguel is very young to experience the death of a contemporary, particularly by suicide, he attains a degree of acceptance of Mong’s fate. While the pair began their relationship as sworn enemies while residing in the group home, they eventually come to gain a respect for one another that leads to a friendship. In Mong’s eyes, they “end up being best friends” (188).
When the pair spend a drunken evening exchanging confidences on the beach, Miguel becomes aware that Mong is “very sick” (180) and is “far down” (181) on the list of kidney recipients. Miguel’s first response is to fantasize about finding a new kidney for Mong in Mexico. When Mong advises him that he does not want to fight any more, he is voicing more than having sworn off violent physical confrontations. He appears to have accepted his fate. In a philosophical frame of mind, Mong hypothesizes that perhaps people “just go back into the earth again” (186), when they die.
The following morning, Miguel realizes that Mong is planning something monumental upon entering the ocean. Despite Miguel’s efforts to detain him, Mong swims past the waves so far that Miguel can “barely see his shaved head bobbing up and down […] And then there’s nothing […] No more shaved head” (193).
Overwhelmed with shock and unsure of how to express his grief, Miguel merely arranges to have Rondell and himself continue on their journey. It is not until their long trek back north that the pair conduct an impromptu memorial at the spot where they last saw Mong. For the first time in months, Miguel experiences a sense of vivaciousness and gratitude when he swims in the ocean that Mong had loved since earliest childhood.
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