Mexikid: A Graphic Memoir

The title of Martín’s memoir centers Pedro’s dual identity as both a Mexican and an American. When Pedro introduces himself in the opening of the book, he does not say that he comes from a “big family”—he says that he comes from a “big Mexican American family” (1). Details drawn from the family’s Mexican heritage inform every part of the narrative: Pedro gives both Mexican and American names for his family members in their initial introductions. He depicts the family eating traditional Mexican foods, describes Mexican cultural traditions that they practice and utilizes Mexican music as a motif that runs through the story. Because of the family’s migration from Jalisco to Watsonville, however, the older and younger family members have varying levels of experience with and connection to Mexico. As the story opens, it is mainly Pedro’s parents and his “mostly Mexican” older brothers and sisters that model love and respect for the rich cultural traditions of Mexico (91).

When the story begins, Pedro defines himself through his connection to and love for American television shows, movies, toys, and music. He feels so worried about preserving this connection during the family’s road trip to Mexico that he willingly pays his older brother’s to buy cassette tapes and rent the player so that he can listen to recordings of American television shows in the motorhome. As frightening as he finds the experience at the border, he asks Apá to turn back when he realizes that the guards have confiscated his American toys and his cassette tapes. He dislikes traditional Mexican music, calling it “chun-ta-ta” music (32), and he mocks his older siblings’ childhood in Mexico where they “100% had to poop outside” (36). He has some stereotypical misunderstandings of Mexican culture, as well, such as his belief that Mexican children probably play with nothing but lassoes and knives.

The trip to Jalisco and back gives Pedro an opportunity to grow in his understanding of Mexico and his own Mexican heritage. Pedro’s experiences in Mexico expose him to delicious new treats and intriguing toys, allow him to form deeper connections with his extended family and community, as well as specific cultural traditions like the serenata. Lila and Abuelito tell him stories about Mexican history and the family’s past that make Pedro proud to be part of the legacy of his Mexican American family. Martín reflects Pedro’s growth as a character and his connection to his own Mexican heritage in his evolving relationship with both Mexican music and the grito. It is a Mexican song that moves Apá to cry out the story’s first grito, when the family arrives in Tijuana. At this moment, early in Pedro’s arc, he doesn’t even try to emulate the cry himself. Instead he substitutes a very American “Ayyyy,” modeled after the Happy Days character Fonzi (85). However, at the party that one of his aunts throws for Abuelito, Pedro hears his family singing Mexican songs and feels his first grito building inside him—but he cannot yet release it. Finally, in the story’s resolution, he cries out his very own grito, indicating that he has embraced his “100% authentic, somewhat mostly Mexican self” (306).