The Crossing

The novel’s rising action quickly grows in intensity as both Robert and Manny begin to change. Robert cannot drive the bullfight from his mind, and the bull overlaps with thoughts of his friends’ deaths in his memory. As a result, Robert has a softness in his face when he hands Manny the five-dollar bill. Manny recognizes this kind look, which finally motivates Manny to tell Robert the truth. Despite initially admiring Robert for his tough demeanor, Manny is finally able to trust Robert because of the sergeant’s true compassion. Although Manny is desperate to cross the border as his life becomes “closer, tighter and leaner” (100), he forgets about money for a moment as he looks at Robert, who flashes back to the many people who have asked him for help. In those cases, he could not do anything for them; his friends were injured and dying in battle and Robert could not save them. Robert finds himself agreeing to help Manny without consciously deciding to do so. Paulsen uses this moment of kindness from Robert to push the narrative towards its climax. Once Robert resolves to help Manny, the four traffickers appear, and Robert gives the ultimate sacrifice for Manny—his life. Both man and boy are no longer the same. Locke’s two personas, Robert and the sergeant, come together to save Manny, and Manny learns what it means to tell the truth and to experience kindness and help from another person.

Paulsen develops his exploration of truth and lies by showing the transformational nature of truth in Manny’s life. At first, Manny covers one lie with another and the sergeant recognizes his deceit. However, Robert doesn’t hold Manny’s deception against him; he gives him money and knows that lies are a means of survival. Robert himself survives by avoiding the truth of his past trauma. However, once Manny starts to tell Robert the truth, he cannot stop; he feels as if “a dam burst” (106). Manny shows his vulnerability to Robert, which acts as a catalyst for Robert’s decision to help him. Manny’s first experience with truth shows the powerful nature of honesty, but also highlights the vice of deceit for those who live in a state of uncertainty and fear. Manny’s lifestyle of lies comes directly from his need to hide weakness.

Paulsen also highlights the excess of the American lifestyle as Robert thinks about how much abundance Americans enjoy compared to Manny and others in Juárez. His thoughts highlight the cars, jobs, and relatively worry-free lifestyle many Americans enjoy in contrast with a boy like Manny, who faces starvation, kidnapping, and countless other dangers on a daily basis. Paulsen uses the abundance of the United States as a motif that runs throughout the text, emphasizing a perspective that may be new to his mostly American readership.

The novel ends shortly after the climactic fight between the traffickers and Robert. This final fight echoes the bullfight, with Robert figuratively becoming the dying bull. During the fight, Paulsen highlights Robert’s two personalities overlapping and coming together. The sergeant replaces Robert, showing that both men are fighting for Manny. The reader sees the sergeant’s impressive fighting skills paired with Robert’s kindness and sacrifice. When the fight ends, Manny looks into Robert’s face and sees the brave and strong hero he longed for, not in spite of Robert’s compassion, but because of it. Robert is finally at peace as he dies; he no longer feels guilty for those he could not save, and he can finally join the friends whose memory he spent so long trying to avoid. Robert’s sacrifice gives Manny the chance to cross. Paulsen leaves the ending ambiguous, making the reader wonder if Manny will make it across the border and find a better life in the United States. By omitting a resolution to Manny’s desperate situation, Paulsen keeps the narrative focus on the changes both Manny and Robert experience because of having met one another.