Butterfly Boy Summary
Rigoberto González

Butterfly Boy Overview

"Butterfly Boy" is a coming-of age memoir that tells the story of Rigoberto Gonzalez, a gay Mexican-American man. Unlike most memoirs in which authors relay the story of their past, "Butterfly Boy" is told in present tense as Gonzalez turns 20 and struggles to find his true identity. He finally does so by returning to the driving forces in both his past and his present. The story shifts between the present tense where he leaves his lover in California and travels back to Mexico to visit his family, flashbacks of his life growing up in Mexico and California, and vignettes to his lover in California. By confronting his father and his past and having a final violent confrontation with his lover and his present, Gonzalez is finally able to come into his own and make the leap that allows him to transcend his past and become a successful writer and professor.