Oscar Casares' Charro

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Respect Within and Out

In “Charro” by Oscar Casares, respect is an underlying theme that ties the whole story together. It weaves itself in and out of each scene as if it were its own character in the story. From having the respect for family or that of someone’s personal space, it is a constant throughout. Respect has the most important part in life. Family, friends, and acquaintances all need it. Humans have the tendency not to give respect all the time, which, without the presence of it, anger, hate and violence will arise from tension cause from its absence.
Even though murder is not legal, others can respect a justified murder. When Marcelo was a teenager “…Valdez accused [his] father of stealing cattle, [so he] gathered his sons… [and gave] them each a gun…[with] the first one to see…Valdez was to shoot him” (57). When Marcelo’s brother shot Valdez nobody really took a second thought about it, with the exception of the law. The town all knew that Valdez was not giving Marcelo’s father the respect he deserved and he had something to do something about it. The whole incident could have been avoided if Valdez would have just had a talk with Marcelo’s father rather than automatically accusing him of

theft. Because Valdez did not give any respect to Marcelo’s father, he in turn did not give him any respect, but turned to violence to solve a simple misunderstanding.
Assuming tha...

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