Identity

Through the juxtaposition of the Mexican-born Big Angel and American-born Little Angel, The House of Broken Angels explores the pain and confusion that surrounds identity for many members of immigrant families.

Big Angel is born in La Paz, Mexico to two Mexican parents; only later in life, after meeting Perla in Tijuana, does Big Angel decide to move to the United States. Thus, though he lives in the United States, has learned to speak English, and works in a job that Mexicans do not ordinarily occupy, Big Angel has a relatively simple view of his own national identity: he is Mexican. This is reflected in the narrative itself which, while emphasizing the ways in which Big Angel is not a stereotype of a Mexican immigrant, is nonetheless unquestionably Mexican: Many of Big Angel’s executive colleagues thought Mexicans pushed brooms or scrubbed the restrooms, maybe wore...