The Guardians

Research the history of Catholicism in Mexico/New Spain, including the influence of Jesuits in the region, their subsequent expulsion, and the way Mexican Catholicism has evolved since colonization. How does this history affect your understanding of the characters and their relationship with religion?

Why did Castillo choose to tell this story using multiple narrators? What impact do these different points of view have on the story?

Discuss Tiny Tears’s complex characterization. Is she a sympathetic figure? Why or why not? How do her past traumas inform her behavior, and what does it mean that Regina forgives her? What broader argument about trauma and healing might Castillo be making through her depiction of Tiny Tears?

How does this novel depict the importance of social, environmental, and gender justice to Chicano communities? What points of connection can you find between Miguel, Regina, and real-life social justice movements in Latinx communities in the US and beyond? Be sure to discuss issues and movements that have developed since the novel’s publication in 2007.

How does The Guardians depict identity formation? What do Miguel, Regina, and Gabo feel identifies them as Mexican American or Chicano? How do those identifications differ, and what do they say about identity in Mexican American communities?

Discuss El Abuelo Milton’s character. How does he speak to the lived experience in the El Paso/Juárez area, and why might Castillo have included him in this narrative?

Examine Castillo’s use of Spanish/Spanglish in this novel. How is it similar to other novels that incorporate Spanish, and where does it diverge? What purpose does it serve? Would the novel be the same if it were written exclusively in English?

How does this novel depict family, belonging, and community? What kinds of relationships characterize the communities depicted, both in Cabuche and in El Paso/Juárez? How does the novel intervene with stereotypes about values in Borderlands communities, particularly those on display at Grupo Beta?