Character Analysis
We hardly ever hear Rebecca Hernandez called by anything else but Mom, which makes sense since she's our main man Manny's mom. She takes parenting Manny, Nardo, Magda, and Pedi super seriously, though being married to their dad has some major ups and downs.
If there's one thing we know for sure about Manny's mom, it's that she can be super strong when she needs to be. And she has a seriously thick skin. So when she's at the hospital with Magda and the receptionist is being rude to them, Mom finds a way to take it in stride:
If anything it was my mom who looked embarrassed, she was rattled, too, by what the lady had said. She wasn't surprised, though. Nothing surprised my mom. She expected people to treat her mean. Then a little anger sparked inside her. When she turned the chair to wheel Magda out, she said in a gruff voice for me, not the lady, to hold open the door. (8.34)
Mom isn't immune to feeling badly when the hospital receptionist is rude—she gets "embarrassed" and "rattled" with all the uncomfortable interactions—but, like we see with Manny (be sure to read up on him elsewhere in this section), these hard feelings don't knock Mom down. Instead, she finds a way to power forward. Did you notice how it's her "anger" that gets her moving again and makes her stand strong? As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going—and that's exactly what we see Mom doing here.
Okay, so Mom can be strong as can be when she needs to. But there are also times when she doesn't exactly stand up for herself, like when Manny's dad tries to shoot her and she protects him from the cops by hiding the rifle. As much as she can be a super strong lady who takes care of herself, then, Mom also has moments when she is way more passive about her life and her well-being. And while as the book ends we see Manny coming into his own, we can't say the same for Mom. Our fingers are crossed for her, though.