50 pages • 1 hour read
Sonia ManzanoThe Revolution of Evelyn Serrano
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “My Mother the Slave”
Fourteen-year-old Evelyn Serrano, frustrated by her mother’s persistent offers of breakfast, prepares for her first day of work. Despite her mother’s insistence, she rejects the expectation that she will work at the family bodega and opts to work in a nearby shop instead. When her mother calls her by her given name, Rosa, she insists on being called Evelyn. She views her room as her sanctuary from her mother’s presence and tacky decorations. Frustrated by her unruly curly hair, she smooths out her fringe before leaving. Her mother offers her money, but Evelyn declines, determined to make her own way.
Chapter 2 Summary: “El Barrio”
As Evelyn walks through El Barrio, she encounters familiar sights and an overwhelming smell of garbage. She crosses paths with Angel Santiago, an old acquaintance, who joins her on her walk despite her reluctance. Annoyed by Angel’s antics, Evelyn’s frustration peaks when he playfully throws a water balloon at her, dampening her fringe. She continues to work, and her manager, Mr. Simpson, assigns her to the makeup counter, partnering her with Lydia, a Dominican colleague. Despite Lydia’s attempts to connect, Evelyn lies about her Spanish proficiency in order to avoid conversation. While buying a snow cone from Angel’s father, Señor Santiago, on her way home, Evelyn witnesses him receive a summons from a police officer for selling without a license. The incident leaves him visibly distressed.
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Lady With No Eyebrows Appears”
After work, Evelyn is surprised to find her mother at home, along with her grandmother, Abuela, who is visiting from Puerto Rico. Abuela’s extravagant appearance differs greatly from the more conservative style that Evelyn’s mother’s has. Despite a warm embrace, tension simmers as Evelyn’s mother speaks of her grandmother’s communication issues. Evelyn’s grandmother settles into her room, which soon overflows with her belongings. Feeling overwhelmed, she retreats to the rooftop, where she is joined by Angel. They sit in silence as Evelyn contemplates the tension in her household.
Chapter 4 Summary: “If Only I Were a Cockroach”
Evelyn’s grandmother disrupts the household, forcing Evelyn to sleep on the sofa and causing disagreements with her mother. Her eccentric habits and unsolicited advice create tension between her and Evelyn’s mother. When Evelyn reveals her new workplace, her grandmother insists on visiting her, leading to an embarrassing encounter with coworkers and friends. To avoid further interaction, Evelyn seeks a transfer to the quieter hardware counter at the store.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Wilfredo”
In the hardware section at work, Evelyn encounters Wilfredo, a former friend’s brother. He requests a key duplication despite the fact that the key is marked “Do Not Duplicate,” creating a dilemma for her. Wilfredo’s frustration grows as Evelyn hesitates, prompting him to leave the store and buy a crowbar instead. Evelyn observes him outside with his friends and feels self-conscious about their interaction.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Killer Photo Album”
Friction between Evelyn’s mother and grandmother intensifies, leading to frequent arguments over seemingly minor issues. The tension escalates when Abuela plays a song referencing the Ponce Massacre in Puerto Rico. Retreating to her room, Evelyn finds an old photo album filled with items from her grandmother’s past: boyfriends’ cards, Christmas cards from her mother, and old photos. The album also contains newspaper clippings depicting police officers firing into a crowd during the Ponce Massacre. Evelyn is bewildered by the images because she has no prior knowledge of the event or her family’s connection to it, and the discovery leaves her with unanswered questions about her grandmother’s past.
Chapters 1-6 Analysis
From the very beginning, Manzano introduces the social complexities of Affirming One’s Cultural Identity, for the protagonist, Evelyn, grapples with her Puerto Rican heritage and her place within her community, struggling to reconcile her family’s cultural background with her desire to assimilate into American culture. This internal conflict is evident in her aversion to her mother’s design choices for their house, which contrasts with the dominance of white and beige colors in her room. These colors, which are implicitly associated with neutrality and sterility, create an environment devoid of cultural markers or personal expression. By surrounding herself with these nondescript hues, Evelyn seeks to blend into the dominant white culture, erasing anything that might distinguish her as Puerto Rican. Evelyn’s efforts to assimilate also extend to her physical appearance. For example, she internalizes societal pressures to conform to Eurocentric standards of beauty and identity, leading her to attempt to straighten her hair and adopt “the least Puerto Ricansounding name” (14), one that she perceives as being less ethnically identifiable. To align herself more closely with mainstream white American culture, she distances herself from her Puerto Rican origins. This strategy reflects her deep-seated internalization of cultural stereotypes and biases, hinting that she associates her own ethnic identity with negativity or inferiority.
Evelyn’s aversion to her heritage generates an unwillingness to engage with her Puerto Rican community or the broader Latinx community. The narrative offers glimpses into her disdain for her surroundings as she describes the oppressive summer heat and the unpleasant odor of garbage that permeates the neighborhood. Through Evelyn’s disparaging lens, El Barrio appears stagnant and lacking in opportunities for growth or improvement. She observes the “usual scene” of people going about their daily routines, and her tone suggests a sense of monotony and routine that characterizes life in the neighborhood. Additionally, when her coworker Lydia identifies herself as Dominican, Evelyn’s dismissive attitude is evident when she retorts, “So what do you want, a medal for being Dominican?” (28). Her lack of cultural pride, coupled with a false claim of lacking Spanish proficiency, illustrates her reluctance to engage with her heritage and with the cultural experiences of others in her community. Thus, these fraught interactions further reinforce her desire to distance herself from her roots.
Despite Evelyn’s efforts to disavow her Puerto Rican heritage and community, she finds herself increasingly aware of the struggles that the people around her face. Her interactions with her family—and particularly with her mother—also reveal a growing sensitivity to the burdens placed upon the community. In a deliberately incendiary example, she refers to her mother as a “slave,” highlighting the oppressive nature of the roles assigned within their household and society. This choice of words reflects Evelyn’s perception of her mother’s subservient role and the societal expectations that limit her agency. It also hints at larger themes of power dynamics and cultural expectations often present in the approaches that immigrant families take toward assimilating in a new country; Evelyn is particularly critical of her mother’s passiveness toward the landlord, using it as an example of how averse to conflict she is. In her mother’s attempts to disengage from such problems, Evelyn senses her mother’s desire to maintain appearances or mask underlying issues. This dynamic suggests that her mother’s actions, such as excessive cleaning and decorating, are futile attempts to hide or mitigate the internal and external challenges that the family faces. However, Evelyn’s frustration with her mother’s passivity ultimately hints at the protagonist’s deeper understanding of the systemic challenges that women endure in her community.
Throughout the narrative, Evelyn also bears witness to the myriad struggles of her neighbors in El Barrio, which illuminate the social and economic challenges plaguing their community. Evelyn also observes the unfair treatment endured by residents at the hands of outsiders, especially authority figures; this issue is best exemplified in the police harassment that Señor Santiago experiences. He is unfairly targeted and subjected to demands for a license and a summons, and the scene is designed to expose the systemic biases and power imbalances present in American society. Similarly, when Evelyn notices that her Latina coworker, Lydia, endures disrespect from the manager, she becomes even more aware of her community’s vulnerability. This observation demonstrates Evelyn’s critical assessment of the dynamics of power and respect within her community and the broader society.
The arrival of Abuela, Evelyn’s grandmother, serves as a catalyst for the theme of The Importance of Critically Examining History, operating at both the personal and social levels. Disrupting the familial status quo, Abuela’s presence initiates a journey of personal and historical exploration for the protagonist. This disruption is visually depicted through the deep disparities in the family members’ personalities and values, and these tensions are symbolized by Abuela’s vibrant appearance when compared to Mrs. Serrano’s conservative demeanor. The tension between the two older women, although triggered by seemingly trivial matters, serves as an indicator of unresolved familial dynamics and communication gaps, and the festering conflict ignites Evelyn’s curiosity about her family’s past, about which she knows very little. As she seeks to better understand herself and her family, she discovers photos depicting the Ponce Massacre, and this scene foreshadows her discovery of her family’s role in a significant historical event, the awareness of which will profoundly impact her quest to understand her Puerto Rican identity and the complexities of her family history.
