The Madonnas of Echo Park

The fourth chapter of The Madonnas of Echo Park is narrated by a bus driver named Efren Mendoza. Efren is a rule-follower to the extreme, and he is grateful for his job. He left home at an early age, when he was jumped by his brother in a gang initiation. Both his brother, Manny Jr., and his father, Manny Sr., were members of the same gang, and he strives to rise above their criminal legacy.

He resents other Mexican-Americans who have failed—in his mind—to improve upon their situations with hard work, remarking critically upon immigrants who never learned English. He feels that the attitudes of illegal immigrants reflect poorly on Mexican-Americans like himself, to the degree that he says he wishes he could work for the US Border Patrol. He abides professional rules even when encountered with ethical gray areas, refusing to intervene against a passenger who regularly exposes himself to young girls. He explains that the only time he (slightly) bent the rules was for Felicia, whom he believed was flirting with him. After Efren asked Felicia on a date and she turned him down, he staunchly reaffirmed his commitment to following the rules at all costs.

One night on his bus, a racially-motivated fight breaks out between a young African-American man (who is selling Skittles candy) and a Mexican-American passenger. Efren kicks the African-American man off the bus, rationalizing that he is protecting his passengers from violence. The light changes, and Efren runs over the African-American man. Efren insists that he only runs over the man because he is distracted; however, his supervisors later point out that his calls for help arrive eleven minutes after the first 911 calls from his passengers.

African-American onlookers are infuriated by the young man’s death. Angry locals drag an innocent Mexican-American man off the bus and beat him to death. Overwhelmed by the situation, Efren puts on his “Out of Service” sign, drives to a Denny’s, and drops off his passengers. He then drives through the night, bewildered, stopping to rest in Echo Park.

In Echo Park, a strange passenger—later revealed to be Freddy Blas—boards the bus and asks Efren to drive him somewhere. When Efren tells him he is out of service, Freddy replies, “I am too. But here we are” (87).Freddy asks Efren to drive him somewhere else, telling him he will know where to stop. No one is able to find Freddy after Efren drops him off, and his supervisors believe he is lying.

Changed by his traumatic night, Efren attests that he is determined to “learn a new set of rules,” to “find another way home” (88).