David says,""She loves me, understands me."
"Love?" My mom eyes me, and snaps back to him, "You don't think it's too soon for that? You've been dating a month and a half."
"We feel the same way about each other," he says grinning.
She doesn't grin back. I grip his hand tighter.
The last thing she told me that night was that the whirlwind, the fast love, was all bullshit." (p. 102).
In this scene, Belinda's mother is clearly showing her disapproval of the Belinda and David's relationship. She's hesitant because they appear to be in love too quickly for her. For me, this interaction was one of many that threw up red flags in my mind. It could have been the building of suspense that Rodriguez was incorporating by not mentioning specifically the abusive parts of the relationship until later, but for me this scene showed in part how David could potentially be controlling as well as how he looked to other people around Belinda. The fact that David spoke for Belinda, "She loves me, she understands me" (p. 102) combined with her mother's concern "the whirlwind, the fast love, was all bullshit" (p. 102) led me to believe that this relationship wasn't right for Belinda and it could turn abusive and horrible really quickly.
Another factor of Belinda and David's love is the careless and simple nature of it. She describes what she imagines David and his new girlfriend's relationship is like, "I wonder if he has told her his prepackaged tragedies spilled early and often, hastening you into love. Because what is love if not triumphantly saying, I know him...He loves so carelessly." (p. 103). Within this she describes David being the type to make sure his girlfriends knew of his tragic background early on and to ensure that his girlfriends fell in love with him quickly by knowing this. I think this can be another sign of an abuser - as he is getting the person he is to know these deep parts of him quickly and is able to use those parts later on when he is in his apology stage after the abuse. Whether he ever does this, we don't know or see that in this short story, but I wouldn't put it past him to also see this within their relationship.
For abuse within relationships, it is extremely difficult for the women to go to any authority to report what has happened. There is a huge stigma against women going through domestic violence and it is frequently swept under the rug. For Latinas and immigrant women, the ability to go to anyone about domestic violence is severely inhibited as they are frequently unaware of their legal protections and may be worried about what may happen to them and their children (especially if they are undocumented). These worries and fears lead to these women staying in these abusive relationships. The immigration system as is isn't equipped to humanely handle immigrant women who are in these situations - as it will be more likely to want to question their status of immigrant or citizen over any questions on how these women can be helped out of these abusive situations.
However, what I do appreciate about this short story is how it ends on a small note of recovery. "He is recklessly on repeat, though. Just the boyfriend I knew. Once upon a time. Not blooming at all while I birthed Belindas." (p. 113). While I wasn't sure how I felt about Belinda's process of stalking David, I appreciated that she made this realization because of it. Because David stayed the same, he ended up repeating the same cycle of abuse with his new girlfriend. However, Belinda changed. Several times throughout the short story Belinda remarks on how she hated the person she became when she was with David, so she deliberately and physically changed herself so she didn't look like the same person. In this sentence she's recognizing this process of change that she's went on, "I birthed Belindas" (p. 113). While I don't think she is 100% her best self when we end the short story, I do think she is on the road to full recovery.
How does the themes of abuse within this short story connect with Hernandez Castillo and his mother?
How else might it be difficult for Latina women or undocumented/immigrant women to find recovery from or get out of an abusive relationship?
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