Geraldo No Last Name by Sandra Cisneros
"Geraldo No Last Name" by Sandra Cisneros is a poignant narrative that captures the fleeting encounter between Marin, a young Puerto Rican woman, and Geraldo, a young Mexican man. Set against the backdrop of urban dance halls, the story explores themes of identity, loss, and the harsh realities faced by undocumented workers. After a brief meeting, Geraldo becomes a tragic figure when he is killed in a hit-and-run accident, leaving Marin to grapple with her feelings of pity and the societal indifference surrounding his death.
The narrative highlights Marin's limited knowledge of Geraldo, emphasizing the disconnect between their brief interaction and the deeper societal issues at play. As she is questioned by hospital staff and police due to Geraldo’s lack of identification, the story reflects on the complexities of immigrant life in the United States, particularly for those who are undocumented. Cisneros sheds light on the anonymity and vulnerability experienced by individuals like Geraldo, whose lives often go unnoticed and unacknowledged by a society that prioritizes the visible and the known. Ultimately, the story raises questions about the value of human life and the impact of systemic issues on personal connections and community belonging.
On this Page
Geraldo No Last Name by Sandra Cisneros
First published: 1983
Type of plot: Sketch
Time of work: The late 1960's to early 1970's
Locale: A large American city
Principal Characters:
Marin , a young Puerto Rican womanGeraldo , a young Mexican working in the United States illegallyThe narrator , a young adolescent girl
The Story
Marin, a young Puerto Rican woman who enjoys dancing, frequents dance halls in different parts of the city. One night at such a place she meets Geraldo, a young, attractive, and neatly dressed Mexican wearing green pants and a shiny shirt. He tells her his name and adds that he works in a restaurant. That is all the information Marin learns about him.
Later that night Geraldo is the victim of a hit-and-run accident and is taken to an emergency room in a hospital. After he dies, Marin is repeatedly questioned by hospital personnel and the police because Geraldo has no identification on him. In fact, his pockets are empty. Marin can provide only minimal information, for that is all she knows. She cannot understand why there is such intense interest in Geraldo. She thinks of him as a person whom "she didn't even know," yet she feels pity toward him. She thinks if only the surgeon had come, if only there had been more personnel in the emergency room than just one intern, perhaps Geraldo would not have died, or at least someone may have learned from him whom to inform about his death.
Nevertheless, the narrator states that Geraldo's death does not make any difference, anyway. He was not someone whom Marin knew well, like a boyfriend or someone close. In fact, he was "just another brazer," "a wetback"—a person who does not speak English and often acts embarrassed. The narrative then focuses on Marin, raising the question of how she will explain why she has stayed out so late.
The story's last two paragraphs briefly describe how illegal workers live in the United States. Because Geraldo was an illegal worker, his fate will remain unknown to his friends and relatives who live where he came from. His family will wonder why he never contacts them again.
Bibliography
Brackett, Virginia. A Home in the Heart: The Story of Sandra Cisneros. Greensboro, N.C.: Morgan Reynolds, 2005.
Cisneros, Sandra. "The Authorized Sandra Cisneros Web Site." http://www.sandracisneros.com/home .html.
Cisneros, Sandra. "From a Writer's Notebook: Ghosts and Voices—Writing from Obsessions, Do You Know Me? I Wrote The House on Mango Street." The Americas Review 15 (Fall/Winter, 1987): 69-73, 77-79.
Jussawalla, Ferosz, and Reed W. Dasenbrock, eds. Interviews with Writers of the Post-Colonial World. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1992.
Kevane, Bridget A., and Juanita Heredia. "A Home in the Heart—An Interview with Sandra Cisneros." In Latina Self-Portraits: Interviews with Contemporary Women. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000.
Olivares, Julián. "Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street and the Poetics of Space." In Chicana Creativity and Criticism: Charting New Frontiers in American Literature, edited by Maria Herrera-Sobek and Helena María Viramontes. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1988.
Petty, Leslie. "The 'Dual'-ling Images of la Malinche and la Virgen de Guadelupe in Cisneros's The House on Mango Street." Melus 25 (Summer, 2000): 119-132.
Rodriguez-Aranda, Pilar E. "On the Solitary Fate of Being Mexican, Female, Wicked, and Thirty-Three: An Interview with Writer Sandra Cisneros." The Americas Review 18 (Spring, 1990): 64-80.
Tompkins, Cynthia. "Sandra Cisneros." In American Novelists Since World War II, 4th Series, edited by James and Wanda Giles. Vol. 152 in Dictionary of Literary Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1995.
Valdéz, Maria Elena de. "The Critical Reception of Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street." In Gender, Self, and Society, edited by Renate von Bartelben. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1993.