Caitlynn Mendelssohn

Professor Orta
4/20/20

The Caregiver

Introduced as a compilation of intertwined short stories, Brando Skyhorse’s novel ​The

Madonna’s of Echo Park ​takes the reader through the Echo Park neighborhood in Los Angeles
looking at different people’s lives and their complicated relationships. In the second chapter, The
Blossoms of Los Feliz, we’re introduced to Felicia, a wife, housecleaner, and most importantly a
mom. Reviewing her character, she leans most towards the archetype of the caregiver.
Throughout Felicia’s chapter the reader is able to connect her to the Caregiver archetype while
observing elements of fiction like Felicia’s first person narrative, which leads the audience to see
a theme that teaches friendship and being open to change.
According to psychologist Carl Gustav Jung, the Caregiver archetype’s goal is to protect
and care for others. Their greatest fears are ingratitude and selfishness which is ironic as their
biggest weakness is being exploited by others. Felicia exhibits the Caregiver’s talents, fears,
goals, core desire and their motto “Love your neighbor as thyself” throughout her section of the
novel.
Felicia is introduced to the reader’s as Aurora’s mom and a cleaning woman who works
for an office building, though after her and Aurora are witnesses to a drive-by shooting, her job
becomes compromised which results in her being let go. Though she’s offered a job by a wealthy
couple whom she goes on to house clean for. The setting of this section of the chapter is in an
affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles where the houses are large, have pools, and require hours
of cleaning. “My job is to work here so you can stay in school,” (96) is Felicia’s response to
Aurora when she comments on living in a big house like the Calhoun’s. Felicia is taking it upon
herself and sacrificing her body and time to make sure she’s able to provide for her daughter’s
future. This goes hand in hand with the caregiver’s core desire of “protecting and caring for
others”. By using Felicia’s voice as narrator during this plot point, it gives us access to more
background as to why she’s acting like this because we’re seeing the chapter through her eyes.
The Caregiver’s strategy is doing things for others, which is exactly the job description of
a cleaning lady. While Mr. Calhoun was the one who hired Felicia, Mrs. Calhoun, a major
character introduced in Felicia’s chapter, was who she was around the most. “I finished my
chores and didn’t want to cheat the Calhoun’s out of their time so I sorted stacks of magazines,”
(102). Mrs. Calhoun is surprised by this and confronts Felicia who then tells her about the extra
chores resulting in an embarrassed Mrs. Calhoun retreating to her darkened room. After nine
months and finding a balance of the amount of interaction they have, Mrs. Calhoun invites
Felicia to lunch where she starts to encourage, convince, and help her start practicing English.
From telling Felicia to order their lunches in English, Mrs. Calhoun is essentially forcing Felicia
to be open to the idea of learning English to which she reacts positively. “Our chats were
mirages, appearing to offer a connection, or friendship,” (117). While they aren’t best friends,
Felicia and Mrs. Calhoun start the beginning of what looks to be a friendship, though when
Felicia says “Mrs. Calhoun seemed afraid to be alone,” (118) it provokes a thought that Felicia
might somewhat of a caregiver for Mrs. Calhoun. While Felicia is caring for her younger
daughter, she is also a caretaker for Mrs. Calhoun while her husband is out cheating on her with
young men leaving her alone in their mansion. Felicia recognizes this and does her best to invite
Mrs. Calhoun to lunch to try and keep her happy, as the Caregiver’s talent is being
compassionate. Again, by using Felicia as the narrator it allows the audience to understand why
Felicia is acting this way because we have her knowledge and are hearing the chapter from her;
without Felicia we wouldn’t know of Mrs. Calhoun’s loneliness or sadness. Mrs. Calhoun’s
actions have acted in a way that gives the readers a fuller meaning to Felicia’s archetype of the
Caregiver.
Throughout ​The Madonnas of Echo Park, ​Brando Skyhorse illustrates characters’ lives in
the gentrified Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park. The readers are introduced to Felicia
whom the second chapter is narrated by as you’re exposed to her traits linked to the Caregiver
archetype. When working to provide for her daughter turns into caring for a lonely housewife,
Felicia is presented with a chance to make a friendship and opportunities for her to learn change.
Felicia’s archetypal caregiver personality helps her grow from her past into a stronger, more
open mom who continues to help others. By using first person narrative, Skyhorse gives the
audience a chance to be exposed to first hand experiences; which strengthens their understanding
of Felicia’s actions and enables them to see how Felicia learns to accept friendship and learn it’s
okay to change.
 Works Cited

Skyhorse, Brando. ​The Madonnas of Echo Park: a Novel​. Free Press, 2011.