The Power of Ancestry in Latin American Literature

RR Superhero

Character Development

The main character in the graphic novel La Borinquena by Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is presented visually as a shapely, curvy young heroine—first introduced to the reader as a superhero flying through the air and saving the lives of others. Everything is stylized in the rendering. However, the same character, as depicted in real life is also curvy and shapely and goes on a kind of Dora the Explorer adventure later in the novel. She discovers her powers in the process and becomes the hero she was born to be, saying “It’s a gift, an honor given to me by my island for my people.” In other words, she learns that she is connected to the past and to her people in a meaningful way that she has some special purpose that results from that connection and her appreciation of the past and present.

The character development of this novel is best described in terms of a coming-of-age drama about a girl who comes to know herself more fully the more she looks into the past and the people of her place. She begins to see that she is more than just some young nobody, anonymously living; she is somebody with a heritage and that means something. The fact that she becomes a superhero is kind of beside the point because this can be taken symbolically. She is facing the identity vs. role confusion conflict of youth, and she resolves that conflict by settling the matter of identity.