Victor Villaseñor

Victor Villaseñor was born in Carlsbad, CA on May 11, 1940. He dropped out high
school as a teenager and moved to Mexico because of the struggles he faced with discrimination,
cultural barriers, and dyslexia. He returned with a newly acquired love of his culture and after
receiving 265 rejections for his 9 novels of short stories, he wrote the novel Macho! which led to
his best-selling novel, The Rain of Gold. Other works include: Burro Genius and Jury: The
People vs. Juan Corona.

“The Greatest Christmas Gift”

In the short story, the protagonist of the story is the father of Victor Villaseñor, Juan
Villaseñor, at the age of seven years old. The story takes place a week before Christmas and in
Los Altos de Jalisco in Central-Western Mexico. At this age, Juan is trying to prove to himself,
his town, and the rest of the world that he has the guts to go where no other sane person has gone
before, La Buja’s house, to proclaim his families love of God.

Quotes from “The Greatest Christmas Gift”:

“Look, God,” he said out loud, “People ride their horses clear out of this side of the valley so
they don’t have to come near her orchard. I’ve already come closer to her place in the night than
few mortals would dare. So what do you think, eh, God? Do I really have to go any further? The
devil can already see that I’m pretty brave.” – Juan (pg. 1309)

“Oh, mi hijito, I love you, I love you so much. And you must promise me never to do such a
thing without consulting me first. You’ve become a little man, mi hijito, and a man always needs
a woman’s opinion in order to round out his decisions – like the broken rocks need the river
waters to smooth out their rough edgesand make the rocks smooth and round and whole. Believe
me, no man’s decisions are complete without a woman’s influence. And no woman’s garden can
give life without a man participation.” – Doña Margarita (pg. 1317)

Quotes from my essay:

- “Juan’s personality and assertive way of speaking brought the best and the worst out in
people, it all depends on how a person takes hearing the truth from a seven year old boy.”

- “He (Juan) talked to God as though he were there in front of him, as an older friend that
he loved and respected.”