Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa

César Chávez (1927-1993) was a Chicano agricultural labor leader. He was a co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, which later joined with another union to become the United Farm Workers (UFW) labor union. Chávez and the UFW organized many successful labor strikes and boycotts to improve working conditions for Chicano agricultural laborers, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. Rigoberto describes approvingly how his mother took part in the UFW, but he also notes how the strikes and labor disruptions led to a work shortage and financial difficulties for his family.

El Día de Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is a Mexican holiday celebrated in the beginning of November, typically November 1 or 2. During the holiday, it is tradition to leave offerings to dead people and to visit gravesites, as well as tell stories about the deceased. It is also traditional to exchange gifts including candy skulls and pan de muerto, a kind of sweet bread. In Butterfly Boy, González’s family gathers on the first Día de Muertos after his mother’s death to pray for her and mourn.

Mariposa in Spanish literally means butterfly. Butterflies are a motif that runs throughout the text. As a child in Zacapu, Rigoberto is fascinated by the migrating monarch butterflies. He also compares his family’s migratory existence to that of the butterflies. However, mariposa has a dual meaning. It is also a derogatory slang term for a gay person, one that Rigoberto describes as his “favorite” (184). This reappropriation of the term is similar to the way other slurs for gay people have been reappropriated by the community to have a positive meaning, like “queer.”