Reception and Authenticity

Abstract In one of the many theme-packed scenes in Danny Santiago’s Famous All over Town, the novel’s fourteen-year-old Chicano narrator, Chato, pays a visit to Max Pilger, a sympathetic but somewhat idealistic school counselor. Pilger recognizes Chato’s academic potential, despite the boy’s poor grades. But the counselor remains puzzled by a dramatic drop in Chato’s IQ test scores from 135 to 95 in just one year. He decides to examine Chato himself with a series of Rorschach inkblot tests and other images. Chato reads all the images pessimistically, while Pilger counters with more optimistic interpretations. The boy says of one image, “A giant man-eating butterfly [with] blood dripping from its mouth” (67). The counselor explains that most people see “happy dancing girls.” Pilger asks Chato why he sees sadness in all the pictures; the boy replies that all the pictures are sad. “The sadness is in you, son,” Pilger says. “I don’t see sadness at all.” Then Chato blurts out, “You’re not a Mexican” (67).