Cigars

Cigars symbolize masked appearances and deceit in the story. For example, when the narrator notices his father smoking cigars after they move to New Mexico, he believes it is because he has taken a liking to them and decides to buy him one as a birthday gift. However, the reality is the father is only smoking the cigars in order to mask the smell of the other drugs he is smoking from his children. Additionally, Philip Olivas uses the promise of a Cuban cigar as a guise to take all of the narrator’s money, which he then spends on weed instead. Thus, cigars are used in multiple instances to disguise a character’s true intentions.

Storms

Storms appear multiple times throughout the novel as a symbol of foreboding. The first storm appears in the first chapter, right before the narrator and his brother are taken...