Joto Confession of a Mexican Outcast
- This is a play about the journey of life of a young named Carlos, who gradually grows into discovering his sexual orientation.
- As a young boy of around 7years of age, Carlos suffers an assault carried on by his one of the relatives from his step father’s side.
- He is forced to remain silent and not mention this encounter to anyone and as a result, stays traumatized.
- He loves fashion and criticizes his school members for not being able to see things in his way.
- He also questions and argues about the religion and cultures, as it describes least who we are, to the extent of being blasphemous after the presentation by the padre.
- Carlos describes himself as physically weak and a nerd who is mostly introverted, unlike his friends who are quite extroverted.
- Growing up, Carlos goes to school and has two best friends, Tony and Victor. Tony plays video games, while Victor is a soccer player.
- Carlos and Victor get entangled against one another when they find themselves both under detention.
- Carlos, after that, admits to developing a crush on his friend victor and admits to looking at him differently.
- After being referred to a pretty one by Victor and his friends, Carlos becomes self-conscience on the way he walks, talks, stands and even hold hands.
- With all these happening, Carlos begins to realize that he genuinely has developed a thing for fellow men.
- He, later on, decides to stay away from Victor by avoiding instances where they would get close to one another by giving flimsy excuses whenever one was needed.
- This, however, turned futile because the more he tried to avoid him, the more attracted he found himself to be.
- He questions himself in his diary asking God, why he allowed to him fill that way about victor and that if it was a test, how long was it going to last.
- He goes on to ask God, if he made a mistake, or was he the mistake.
- Instead, he gets closer to tony by his attempt to stay away in avoidance of victor.
- At one point, he helps tony with his chores and then decided to go horse riding, where a lot unfolds. They both get sweaty and choose to remain topless.
- Tony accidentally presses his body against Carlos’s which brings turn event. At first, Carlos is scared when tony suddenly puts his on his chest but eventually to feel about it, where tony kisses him ultimately.
- Tony skipped school for four days, and this act makes Carlos guilty about the situation.
- He then appears to level up the all situation by pointing out how sorry he is and pleads with him no to tell anyone.
- In his diary, Carlos admits to liking tony despite not going out on dates or saying beautiful things to one another. He even describes the relation to be like America.
- Graduation takes place. Carlos moves away, and he never sets his eyes on tony again.
- Carlos mum moves to the US, forcing him to stay with his relative where he admits to hating living as well as the time itself. He asks himself why her mother had to live him behind. This is because of the history of his encounter with his uncle, who beats him up repeatedly that he should be a man.
- Later on, Carlos his ability to move with his mother to California, where he admits that America is not like the way it is in the movie.
- He faces a lot of challenges by trying to hold on to his Mexican culture, one that he says was exciting and scary at the time.
- He experiences bullying from fellow students, always mocked and accused of being a faggot.
- He refers to himself as Aries and confronts the bully by reaching out to grab his crouch. The bully gets shocked, pushes him away and takes off running; something carols terms as a victory.
- News about him being gay spreads like wildfire for it is hard by the mummering in the class and the teasing in the open.
- He gets beaten up by iniesto who mocks him afterwards, but luckily gets rescued by Ricardo who also retorts and calls him a faggot in public.
- Carlos feels hurt by Ricardo’s action cry’s it out and admits to loving him.
- Ricardo’s is sent to detention two months later, and opportunity that drives Carlos to join as a cleaning squad only to find himself alone with Riccardo and both share a moment.
“How does this play help me understand myself and my place in society?
According to the play, it is quite apparent that being a gay community can be challenging. It is hard to out and accept to be gay without being judged by a family member or even the society at large. The societal virtues do not resonate well with gay culture, and as results, most gay individuals live quite distant and secretive lives.