50 pages • 1 hour read
Tony JohnstonAny Small Goodness
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
True Character Versus Appearance
As Arturo admits, Los Angeles is a complicated setting. Its associations with fame and movie-star glamor underscore the tension that often exists between appearance and true character. Johnston communicates this idea initially through Papi, whose humility encourages a unique understanding of human nature. “When no eyes are upon him, that is a person’s true test” (36), Papi says, introducing a valuable concept that Arturo will continue to apply throughout the novel.
As he matures, Arturo learns to never make assumptions, helping him probe beyond deceptive appearances. For instance, when Officer Paster and his partner first arrive in the aftermath of the shooting, Arturo greets them coolly, put off by their badges and uniforms. He admits that he’s “angry and untrusting” (99), and he assumes that, like all police, the responding officers will conduct themselves apathetically. However, Arturo is wrong. Officer Paster and his partner “seem to feel the horror” (100), and Arturo realizes that their sympathy is genuine. Ultimately, when Officer Paster replaces Rosie’s lunch box, Arturo joins Papi in his admiration for simple, uncelebrated generosity: “No bigwig’s watching Officer Paster,” Arturo says. “Doesn’t matter. I am” (102). Arturo understands that a stern appearance and poor reputation hardly represent true character. Instead, Arturo draws his positive opinion of Officer Paster from the officer’s kindness.
Arturo uses a similar approach when eyeing the gang after they’ve disrupted the dance. Upon intruding, the gang does their best to appear tough, sporting “high hair, like roosters” and deliberately wearing baggy pants (86), so that people might assume they’re armed. However, the gang fails to reinforce their menacing appearance with similarly menacing actions: Once a group of teachers and students confronts them, the gang backs away, unarmed and clearly cowed. This charade convinces Arturo that the gang is “just display” (87), a criticism that cuts them down to size. Though this encounter carries a different tone than that with Officer Paster, its outcome promotes a similar understanding of appearance and character, encouraging Arturo to evaluate action instead.
This preference for true character over appearance culminates in the novel’s final scene, when Arturo is able to appreciate his family wholeheartedly. Though the family’s Christmas traditions boast little flash—their tree topper angel is “pretty ugly” (121)—Arturo recognizes a deeper, more significant value. Looking around at his family, Arturo smiles to notice them “warm and sweet and silly, glowing in the candlelight” (125). Here, as the novel closes, Arturo embraces a powerful conviction: goodness is what really counts, not appearance.
The Value of Family and Community
The Los Angeles barrio presents a diverse and complicated community. Some residents take the straight-and-narrow path, dedicating themselves to service and friendship, while others join up with gangs, contributing to a culture of fear. The Rodriguez family accepts this duality in their community, confident that “in life there is bueno [good] and there is malo [bad]” (103). As Arturo grows into his own man, he must similarly navigate this tension and steer himself toward his family’s values.
Throughout the novel, Arturo remains unsure of his identity. He tries out different names and hobbies and wonders abstractly about his own future. A similar lack of purpose tempts many to join the Los Angeles gangs. As Arturo explains, impressionable youths seek gangs “for protection from invaders from other areas. Or to have a place to go, or something to do” (13). In this light, Arturo’s challenges—a new environment, an anxiety about his potential—seem likely to encourage him toward gang life. Johnston suggests that the threat of gang life lies in people’s need for community—in this case, one that affords “protection”—and hence portrays Arturo finding the value of community in a more positive form.
Arturo enjoys the benefit of both his family and a larger community of positive role models, providing hope in the darkness. Arturo ends almost every chapter with an aspiration, as he aims to emulate either a family member or neighbor. For instance, he’s inspired by Abuelita’s cultural pride. Arturo similarly reflects on his experiences with community leaders, responding to a common emphasis on decency and humility. Thinking about Coach Tree, Arturo decides that he is “a person to emulate” (52), and he also wonders if he’ll someday be a “book-warrior, like Ms. Cloud” (77). As Arturo memorializes Mama Dulce, he champions her example of community spirit, emphasizing its challenge to gang culture. Though Arturo’s inexperience puts him at risk for gang recruitment, his family members and beloved neighbors help positively shape his future, steering him toward goodness.
The ultimate test arrives toward the novel’s end, after the attack on the Rodriguez home. In the immediate aftermath, Arturo’s attitude verges on cynical, and he admits that he feels “a fury so hot it scorches my heart” (104). However, he chooses to serve the community through the Green Needle Gang. Arturo fully embraces the barrio’s potential for goodness. With his frustrations calmed, Arturo comes to embody Papi’s insistence that “any small goodness is of value” (103). Though Johnston never concedes that barrio life will be easy, Arturo’s character arc suggests that a positive community and family will keep him on the right track.
Embracing a Multicultural Identity
Upon their immigration to the US, the Rodriguez family must adjust to a new American life. At the novel’s beginning, the Rodriguezes have lived in Los Angeles for three years, but they still retain their Mexican traditions and speak in a Spanish-English hybrid. The Rodriguez adults—particularly Abuelita—are more culturally confident, resisting pressure to conform to American ways. However, Arturo, in discovering his own identity, struggles to reconcile both his Mexican past and American present; Johnston portrays him slowly learning to embrace a multicultural identity.
The novel’s early chapters feature a crisis in cultural identity. Often, Arturo seems pulled in two directions, wondering if he should totally embrace Americanism or, alternatively, cling to his Mexican heritage. For instance, Arturo briefly changes his name to “Arthur,” hopeful that an American name will ease his transition into American culture. However, Arturo soon realizes that in committing entirely to Americanism, he has damaged a deeper connection with his family, and he switches back to the name “Arturo.”
Arturo’s transition to his Mexican identity, however, proves just as extreme. For instance, after abandoning “Arthur,” Arturo feels as if he’s wrapped in a “warm sarape” (18), a kind of brightly colored shawl that’s typical of Mexican fashion. Later, when Papi saddens to read about the death of a group of immigrating Mexicans, Arturo reacts similarly: “Thinking about those people,” Arturo admits, “I miss Mexico” (55). To consider these episodes side-by-side is to realize Arturo’s position between two extremes, as he alternatively commits to either an American or Mexican lifestyle.
However, a larger community consistently demonstrates that Mexican and American culture needn’t be mutually exclusive. Leo Love, for instance, is an “old white guy” (30), but he reaches out to the Rodriguez family, even admitting that he’s “tempted to experience [huitlacoche]” (94). Similarly, Leona Scott is a Black woman who grew up in a predominantly Spanish-speaking barrio, offering piano lessons to the neighborhood’s children. She eventually takes the name “Mama Dulce,” a reference to the sweet Mexican candies that families offer as payment. As these vignettes suggest, multiculturalism thrives in the barrio, encouraging people of all backgrounds to seek common ground.
Encouraged by these examples and their relevance to his own life, Arturo slowly begins to meld his American and Mexican identities. When the Rodriguez family celebrates the Day of the Dead—a Mexican holiday honoring departed loved ones—their altar includes traditional sugar skulls and marigolds, with “two small flags, American and Mexican” similarly placed for decoration (95). Such small gestures continue to brighten the rest of the novel, particularly around the Christmas holiday. For instance, the Rodriguez family combines American celebrations with their own “tamale-a-thon” (118), distributing home-cooked tamales to Leo Love, Coach Tree, and other valued neighbors. Similarly, as the family enjoys their own gift-giving tradition, a record plays Elvis Presley’s holiday hits. Elvis Presley, a Mississippi-born rock-and-roll legend, is a distinctly American icon, but his music nevertheless warms the Rodriguezes’ gathering. Among his family, Arturo can finally realize a harmony between Mexican and American culture, embracing each of these identities equally. Ultimately, in charting Arturo’s journey toward acceptance, Johnston emphasizes the value of multiculturalism, suggesting that the richest experiences are also the most diverse.
