Charro by Oscar Casares

Respect Within and Out

In “Charro” by Oscar Casares, respect is an underlying theme that ties the whole story together. It weaves itself in and out of each scene as if it were its own character in the story. From having the respect for family or that of someone’s personal space, it is a constant throughout. Respect has the most important part in life. Family, friends, and acquaintances all need it. Humans have the tendency not to give respect all the time, which, without the presence of it, anger, hate and violence will arise from tension cause from its absence.

Even though murder is not legal, others can respect a justified murder. When Marcelo was a teenager “…Valdez accused [his] father of stealing cattle, [so he] gathered his sons… [and gave] them each a gun…[with] the first one to see…Valdez was to shoot him” (57). When Marcelo’s brother shot Valdez nobody really took a second thought about it, with the exception of the law. The town all knew that Valdez was not giving Marcelo’s father the respect he deserved and he had something to do something about it. The whole incident could have been avoided if Valdez would have just had a talk with Marcelo’s father rather than automatically accusing him of

theft. Because Valdez did not give any respect to Marcelo’s father, he in turn did not

give him any respect, but turned to violence to solve a simple misunderstanding.

Assuming that people will always think the worst of you, does not offer the respect that they deserve. “Sanchez walked over again [without his son crying on his leg]” to ask if Marcelo had really seen his sons dog (56). Marcelo immediately assumed that Sanchez was accusing him of doing something to Charro, which he did do, but did not want Sanchez to find out. Sanchez just wanted Marcelo to let him know if he does see Charro, for his son is distraught over the fact that his dog is missing. He was respecting Marcelo by giving him the benefit of the doubt, that he did not do anything to Charro. At the same time though, Sanchez could be implying that he truly believes that Marcelo did something to Charro, from that he has made several comments about Charro to him. He knows that he should not be accusing Marcelo, but there is the small chance that his intuition is correct. Once, again accusing or thinking that someone did something, is not believing in the respect that they should be given.

Forgiving those who disrespected us cause us to come to a greater good. Marcelo did not like the way his wife’s family treated him. Her mother would say, “that he was a dog catcher for large animals” (53). This bothered him because “he’d walked away from [everything] in order to provide a better life for her daughter” (53). He knew that if he did not take his wife to see her mother at the cemetery, then she would think that Marcelo did not care about her and her feelings. He had to forget all the negative things her mother said about him, when she was alive, in order to become a stronger person. The strength to overcome lack of respect makes one a better person in the end.