Thinking Like A Mountain

Yolanda . Yolanda was a figure from the narrators past . He describes her as a woman with long black hair , light brown skin , and green eyes ' an image which he describes to be merely seen in the Playboy magazines he found in his parent 's bedroom twenty years ago (Casares 30 . The effect that Yolanda had on the narrator however cannot merely be ascribed to her physical appearance and the passion which this stirred within him . As the narrator recalls the difference of his town twenty years ago , back when he was only

sixteen years old , the narrator recounts his first second hand experience of physical abuse

In the text , he recounts how Yolanda was treated by her partner , Frank an `average sized man with thick eyebrows and huge forearms ' as a woman whose sexual inclinations can only be curbed by relegating her within the house (Casares 30 . He recounts how Frank would not allow Yolanda to work and to fend for herself as Frank argued that no woman in his family had ever worked behind a cosmetic counter , selling lipstick ' and that she was his princesa now and any place she needed to go , he 'd take her (She had ) no business driving a car around town (Casares 30 . This recollection was followed by his narration of the events that led Yolanda to his bed as Frank slammed Yolanda to the wall after discovering her relationship with the assistant manager of the store (Casares 31 . The text ends with as the narrator reminisces about the final moments when he still possessed his innocence and was unaware of the harshness of the world . He states

In that bed of mine , the one with the Dallas Cowboy pillows and covers Yolanda and I were safe . We were safe from Frank Castro and...