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Blake Marquez

Professor Batty

English 101

27 May 2017

He Wasnt the Saint She Deserved, But the One She Needed

In the book Still Water Saints, the story is focused around a store called a Botanica

where a wide variety of characters come to see Perla the owner of the shop; these characters are

all facing some kind of personal problem or sickness. Most of them believe that Perla has some

kind of magical power that allows her to heal or help people with their problems. However I am

going to be focusing mainly on Miguel; one of the characters who actually doesnt visit Perlas

Botanica. Miguel works in the grocery store with Rosa who is one of Perlas customers; A lot of

controversy circulates Miguel not only from readers but as well as other characters in the novel;

this is mainly due to the fact that he was recently released from jail, even though all he wants to

do is piece his life back together. After working with each other for a while Miguel and Rosa

wind up falling for each other which is what sparks the controversy from the other characters;

mostly due to the fact that she is 16 and he is 27. Miguel wasnt the happiest person in the story

there were definitely some points in the story where I could tell he wasnt happy with certain

aspects of his life, on the other hand, he always kept a positive attitude; always looking to the

bright side of things. Now that being said, perhaps the most admirable thing he did was simply

the fact that he loved Rosa for who she was, and never once tried to change her in any kind of

way; unlike some of the other characters that came in contact with Rosa throughout the story,

like her own mother. Who would constantly put her down about her physical appearance which

Im sure is the source of all Rosas insecurities; Miguel literally proved her mom wrong by
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falling in love with Rosa, and proving to her that she didnt need to change anything about

herself to find love; and with time his love empowered her and gave her the confidence she

needed to move past her insecurities. So basically I believe that despite his controversial past

Miguel is still saint like.

In the novel its no secret that Miguel is not living a life of luxury; recently released from

jail, and working as a bagger in a market; yet he still continues to keep a saint like attitude and

keeps his positive outlook on life. Unfortunately, since he was imprisoned for five years Im sure

that the market was the best job he could find so quickly after being incarcerated; and even

though he never just comes out and says how unhappy with some of the aspects in his life he

says certain things to leave such an impression. In Rosas chapter of the book Miguel and Rosa

have a conversation about how hes no longer in prison and she makes a comment about how

hes free now, he responds with, Yeah. Have a job at the market. A parole officer who checks

up on me. His eyes scan the apartment: its bare walls, its curtainless windows, its dripping sink

in the kitchen. Im real free now. (Espinoza 52) Basically, he is very much aware of the fact

that he is no longer in jail, but he doesnt feel free; not only does he constantly have a parole

officer checking in on him but as he looks around his apartment he points out to the readers how

run-down it is and you can tell that this was not the type of freedom he imagined when he was

released. In the online blog titled, The Challenges of Prisoner Re-Entry Into Society, the

author talks a lot about what its like for inmates once theyve been released from incarceration,

saying that Often viewed as sub-citizens, ex-offenders are perpetually punished for crimes. The

causes of these restrictions are systemic and affect ex-offenders at all levels of society.(Staff 2),

basically saying that ex-offenders are constantly punished for their crimes by both the justice

system and society even after incarceration; due mainly because of how we as a society view
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them after being released rather they have been rehabilitated or not. Now you may be wondering

what this has to do with Miguel and how does this make him saint like; in a society where most

people have much more than they need people can become ungrateful and negative about the

lives they are living, yet Miguel who has so much less than most of the people in society

continues to keep his positive outlook on life and refuses to let any negativity get to him. I

believe this to be a very admirable quality of his personality that most people could learn from.

One of the most controversial subjects in the novel was Miguel and Rosas relationship;

some of the other characters and a majority of my fellow classmates did not agree with their

relationship; due mostly to the nine year age gap between the two of them. Most of them would

argue that it was creepy for such an older man to be interested in Rosa, and that he was only

interested in taking advantage of her. However, He makes it clear pretty early in the chapter by

doing little things like just getting her to smile at work and teaching her to dance to comforting

her after she fights with her mom. In the article, Does Age Really Matter in Relationships? the

author states that, The most important question tends to be not one of age but of compatibility

and maturityboth emotional and spiritual.(Plowman 20) In other words, we should just focus

on making sure that two people are congruent and right for each other, because relationships are

way too complex to be decided over something as simple as a difference in numbers. The point

being, that Miguel made Rosa feel beautiful and confident when everyone else would just make

comments about her weight and make her feel more self-conscious. To me he is was one of the

most admirable characters in the story, because he was the only person who loved Rosa for who

she was and never tried to change or control her; it was his love for her that eventually showed

her how to love herself which led her to live a life she wanted to live and was happy with.
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Even though there are more saint-like characters in the novel; Miguel continues to stay

positive when people around him, who are more fortunate than him are so negative. Furthermore,

with all the characters surrounding Rosa; Miguel was the only character to really have a

noticeably positive influence on Rosas life. This shows that Miguel may not have been the most

admirable character in the story, but he definitely had some very admirable qualities about him;

which proved crucial in helping Rosa realize her self-confidence, making him the saint she

needed.
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Espinoza, Alex. Still Water Saints: A Novel. London: Picador, 2013. Print.

Plowman, Jonathan. "Does Age Really Matter in Relationships?" LDS Living. LDSLiving, 03

Mar. 2017. Web. 02 May 2017

Staff, Simmons. "The Challenges of Prisoner Re-Entry into Society." Socialwork@Simmons.

Simmons School of Social Work, 12 July 2016. Web. 02 May 2017.