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1. In "How to Transform," what role does the narrator's Mexican heritage play in the story?

At the gym, many of the players do not accept the narrator at first because he is Mexican. They stereotype him and expect him to play a different sport like soccer. In addition, one morning a policeman questions the narrator because he is sleeping in his father's car. When the policeman takes the narrator to find his father at work, the father tells his son, "Mexicans are allowed to sleep too" (8).

2. In "How to Transform," why does the narrator want to go to the gym in Balboa in the first place?

The narrator's passion is playing basketball and he has been working steadily to improve his game. He knows that if he can "put in enough hours" his game is "gonna blast off" (3). He decides to find the best pickup games in the city as a way of challenging himself to improve and overhears some other players one day say that the Muni Gym in Balboa has the very best players.

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