Analysis Of Tomas Rivera's And The Earth Did Not Devour Him

While reading the first half of the book of Tomas Rivera's short story “And the Earth Did Not Devour Him,” Rivera tells the story about a young boy who has severely struggled to understand how exactly he has lost a year in his life. Rivera starts the book with the boy thinking about when the last year began and ended. He experiences reality as well as memories as he tries to adjust his mind. So far, many themes of literature can be seen in the book including racism and education. I also noticed the many self-held thoughts of conversation by the young boy as he struggles to remember his lost year.
So far through half the book, all the titles of the chapters foreshadow on what that chapter is going to primarily be about. Rivera’s story begins with the chapter called “The
The title “The Lost Year” is symbolism in which the author does not define why a year is lost or if it is even a year. In “The Children Couldn’t Wait,” the chapter foreshadows an angry man who is the boss of a farm who shoots a worker’s very young son as the child drinks from a water supply, hence the child being the victim and that he couldn’t wait for water in the title. In the third chapter “A Prayer,” it (in a short summary) tells of a man’s son fighting in Vietnam where a prayer is needed. In the fourth chapter “It’s That It Hurts,” the name of the chapter foreshadows a Mexican boy who is jumped by white boys in a school bathroom and is the only student expelled as a result of his minority. In “Hand in His Pocket,” the title foreshadows the telling of a young boy who is sent by his parents to live with a Mexican couple. The family murders an old man just for his money, then force the boy to help them bury the body hence the “hands in his pocket” title to keep quiet and that he saw nothing. In the sixth chapter “A Silvery Night,” the young boy calls the devil then later concludes that the