The Somebody: The Somebody: A Delusional Somebody

Ever skipped, or stopped going to school because you just didn’t feel like it? Most can agree that we’ve at least considered it once in our lives.

Think about all the free time that would be laid out for our daily lives. What would you do with it? Well, in Danny Santiago’s short story, “The Somebody”, Chato de Shamrock is a teenage Mexican boy, who decides that today is the day he quits school. Chato was part of his street’s gang (The Shamrocks), until everyone living there, except his family, were forced to move away. His parents both take no interest in their son’s life. Chato likes to sign his name on everything, and throughout his day he tags buildings around the east side of old L.A. Chato’s Narrated thoughts and actions show that he

As I stated in the summary, I perceive Chato as a delusional teenager, because he craves the attention he gets from causing mischief. For Example his thoughts illude him when he is with Crusader Rabbit “I had my reputation to think of. Somebody would be sure to see us, and they’d be laughing at me all over the east side. So I pulled my hand away and told her off.” (187) He rebuts accusations, using horrible excuses, such as “That was my name! I like writing my name!” (185) These two pieces of evidence allow me to conclude that Chato is an unreliable narrator, since there is no omniscient beyond his point of

Chalderon. He is a minor character in the story because he is one of the few people who exchange dialogue with Chato. Their conversation takes place inside of his office, his main objective was actually offered to Chato when he said “I know it’s hard to lose your gang, Chato… but this is your chance to make new friends and straighten yourself out. Why don’t you start coming to the Boy’s Club more?” (185) But Chato being the stubborn kid he is says “It’s too boring here” (185) as if he is too good to be involved with the club. Chato holds a disrespectful attitude towards others, he points out anything he can about them to make himself feel better, his thoughts about Mr. Chalderon “He stares at me very hard. I hate those eyes of his. He thinks he knows everything. And what is he? Just a Mexican like everybody else.” (185) Towards the end of the story Chato meets the minor character who was messing with his name Crusader Rabbit, she asks if he wants to go signing with her, but he tells her off by saying “Run along, Crusader, I don’t want no partners, and especially not you.”