Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir

Nonfiction | Graphic Memoir | Middle Grade | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Literary Devices

Onomatopoeia

Like many graphic narratives, Mexikid frequently employs onomatopoeia—the use of words whose sounds mimic the sounds to which they refer. For example, “chun-ta-ta,” Pedro’s word for traditional Mexican music, makes the sounds of the music it describes. In Chapter 13, when the boy is eating the Pop Rocks that Pedro and his brothers give him, the words “slurp,” “fizz,” and “snort” are all drawn over the picture of the boy eating: These words mimic the sounds of the Pop Rocks dissolving as he eats them. Using onomatopoeia in this way makes the story more vivid and contributes to its energetic pace, evoking the sounds of the events Pedro is describing as they happen. Onomatopoeia also contributes to the informal and humorous tone of Pedro’s narrative voice.

Flashback

A flashback is a part of a narrative that takes place in the past, before the present events of the story. Mexikid takes place in 1977, but many stories from the history of Mexico and the history of Pedro’s family are represented in the form of flashbacks. Martín uses various visual cues to distinguish these forays into the past from present narrative time. Flashbacks to Abuelito’s adventures are drawn in a vintage comic art style. Flashbacks to historical events, the loss of crops during the drought, and Abuelita’s death use a lighter line-drawing style with softer colors—visual changes that emphasize the separation in time and the distance of memory. The flashbacks in the story serve an important role in building Pedro’s understanding of the history of Mexico and his own family. In Martín’s narrative, the flashbacks often deal with finding the strength to overcome difficult circumstances, emphasizing The Bittersweet Nature of Life and The Richness of Mexican Culture, and helping Pedro grow in his appreciation of his own familial and cultural heritage.

Irony

Irony a rhetorical device used to subvert expectations through language or plot. Often, this denial of the expected creates a kind of dark humor, as if a kind of cosmic joke is being played. Martín uses this kind of irony when the older Martín children describe the breakdown of their truck on the drive home. Pedro refuses to take the machete when his older brothers offer it to him, because he’s not expecting it to be useful on the drive. The machete turns out to be incredibly useful to the older children in removing the caps on the battery—and Pedro himself needs it when attempting to operate on the injured deer. In Pedro’s view, the little plastic peeing toy is not useful for anything except annoying him—and yet, humorously, it turns out to have been critical for transporting water to the truck when it breaks down. Martín utilizes more serious irony, too, in illustration of Apá buying the casket on Page 177, juxtaposing the somber expression on Apá’s face as his hand touches the cross engraved on the casket in the foreground with Pedro, Hugo, Alex, and Adam bent over laughing at the boy with Pop Rocks in the background. He evokes irony in the plot when Pedro goes to the serenata expecting to end up with his crush, Margarita. Instead, he ends up with a pig cookie covered in flies. The story’s frequent use of slightly dark humor demonstrates that life is full of contrasts—something can be funny and upsetting at the same time, supporting the narrative’s thematic interest in The Bittersweet Nature of Life.