Summary Of Mario Alberto Zambrano's Loteria

Natalie Batista
English 1A
Professor Perales
Feb 6, 2015
RR#3
Mario Alberto Zambrano’s novel, Loteria, unfolds the life of a young girl through cards of Loteria. Luz with her father in jail and her older sister in the ICU, and she has been taken into the custody of the state. Alone in her room writes in her journal, afraid to reveal any information to Julia her counselor, that might incriminate her father. She is scared of Julia manipulating her words and using the information against her dad. Her own aunt also pressures her to speak, she wants her to tell the truth to help get her father out. Luz uses her Loteria cards to spark memories from each and every one of them. The stories written in her journal let the reader know past and present
Luz also makes a reference to church and say, “It never made sense why people think You’re only there at church and nowhere else”(Zambrano 1). Luz feels alone and scared, now that she is separated from her family and is constantly being questioned by her counselor. Even her aunt, the only family member that she has contact with is pressuring her to talk. Luz is afraid that if she says something she could make things worse for her dad. She mentions abuse, and how no one would understand if she told them. Being a young girl and having her entire life fall apart right before her eyes must be difficult. Not having anyone to talk to and tell her secrets to, she feels as if God is the only person she can talk to. God has always been in her life, she tells him her stories because he is the only one who would not tell her secrets. The Loteria cards and God are the only two family things among all of the unfamiliar things and people she has had to encounter recently. She remembers going to Church every Sunday, and how important it was to their lives. In the same way, the Loteria cards held a very special place in her heart because her family used to play it all the time. Luz mentions in her journal that every day after church she would play Loteria with her second family, and that was what made them feel like
Luz in this section not only clarifies that when she says “You” she is referring to God. She is also drawing attention to the reader to her imagination of what heaven is to her. When people think of heaven, they think of eternal peace. This could infer that Luz connects playing the Loteria game every Sunday with her family, to feeling peace. Luz is restless, alway keeping her guard up not letting anything that can incriminate her father slip out. She writes to God and uses her Loteria to do so because they remind her of that peacefulness she once felt when her family was all together playing Loteria after