The Big-Dick Truck

The truck is a symbol of both performative masculinity and the family’s poverty. Paps buys the truck after their old car dies during a storm. He has recently been fired, and his self-image is at an extreme low. When he arrives with the truck, the brothers are thrilled. “The truck was cobalt blue, with a bench seat and a skinny, two-foot-long gearshift that came up from the floor. Everything was sleek and new, the thick black rubber of the tires and the sparkling chrome of the bumper. The massive side mirrors jutted out like elephant ears.” (63). However, Ma is horrified by the cost of the truck, which they will be unable to pay back. She calls it a “fucking bid-dick truck’” (64), calling out Paps for valuing this symbol of masculinity over his family’s welfare.

Spain

In the eyes of Ma and the...