Victor Martinez award winning book, “Parrot in the Oven”, takes place in Fresno California. Where a 14 year old named Manny Hernandez life is told. Manny wants to be more than a penny which, is what his father calls them, so Manny joins a gang which what he believes will get him the respect that he wants. The problem is Manny doesn’t have good role models to show him the way to be a man. One lesson in the story is Be what you know is right not what you see by bad example.
From the beginning it shows Manny does not have good role models in his life to show him the right path to life . It states in chapter one “That summer my brother, Bernardo or “Nardo,” as we call him, flipped through more jobs than a thumb flipped through a deck of cards.” Also it states “(Mom believed he sold marijuana, or did some other illegal shamelessness.)” The first quote is stating that Bernardo is a bad example for not being able to keep a job and work hard to make money. The second quote is saying how Bernardo his mother believed he was in the drug business and that’s not a good example for a 14 year old. Another bad example for Manny that he see’s over and over is his abusive alcoholic father. Manny see’s his father drunk and fighting and also see other men do the same. It states in the book “Kids weren’t allowed in the pool hall, but Rico let me stay sometimes while waiting for dad. I’d sit on a stool at the far end of the bar, watching guys lean against pool cues, smoke and cuss one another out. I even saw a fight once where a quy threw a cue ball at a man in a Texas hat and smacked his teeth clean off the gums.” This quote is telling you what this young 14 year old boy is experiencing watching and taking in his brain. Is this what a child should be seeing, watching, hearing his father and other men do.
In the middle of the story the author develops the theme by explaining Manny’s fathers actions . Manny’s father displays poor behavior in front of his children which should be a problem, but he doesn’t care about what they think, because to Manny’s father his family were just pennies. It states in the book “Dad believed people were like money. You could be a thousand-dollar person or a hundred-dollar even a ten, five, or a one dollar person. Below that, everybody were just nickels and dimes. To my dad we were pennies.” These sentences are explaining Manny’s father doesn’t care about his family. His family is pennies to him and that’s very shameful and not a good example for Manny to follow. Manny’s father is making Manny feel worthless ,and as a father he shouldn’t he should be engorging to what Manny wants to be and love and appreciate Manny.
By the end of the book the author gives examples of the theme by showing Manny’s father, and brother changing, and giving Manny the right example of a true man. Even tho Manny still believes he needs to join this gang to be a man like his brother and father. It sates in the book “To Mom’s surprise, Dad actually found a job doing office work for the Awoni Building Company. To everyone’s surprise, Nardo got a job delivering medicine for Gidden’s Pharmacy.” This quote is explaining how Nardo and Manny’s father is turning around and getting on the right path and showing Manny the right choice. This essay explains how the theme is through the whole book, and how you should be what you know is right not by bad example.
