Summaries Chapters 1-4

CHAPTER 1

Victor is invited by his publicist to a conference for English teachers to meet authors, and his publicist asked if he would like a booth for him to introduce his new book, Macho, to the many different English teachers. At the conference, he volunteers to give the opening speech, since the author they had arranged to have got drunk at the hotel's bar before it was time for him to give the speech. Even though the lady in charge of the conference was not so confident about having Victor give the speech due to the fact that he was not a known author, and the way he was dressed, she agreed to have him give the speech. Victor was very nervous, and as he got to the podium, he became enraged at the fact that they were all English teachers, and gave a speech about the cruelty he faced while he was in school, and how teachers would belittle him because of his race. Some teachers were offended by the speech, while others listened to what he had to say and were proud of his courage. After his speech, many of the teachers started buying his book, and complemented him for such book. That same night, at the hotel's bar, he met a teacher, who congratulated him for his speech and book, and advised him to also talk about those good, and kind-hearten  teachers that helped him, and had a positive impact on his writing.

CHAPTER 2
That night, as Victor rested on his hotel room, he thought about what the English teacher he met at the bar had advised him, and he had a flashback about the substitute teacher he had for about three days while he was attending military school, and how that substitute teacher had inspired him to write without limits. He also had flashbacks about how he was treated back in military school, and how he had decided to be free from all the unfair treatment, after he became enraged at the fact that his teacher had insulted his name, Edmundo, a name he was proud to have because his father had given it to him, because of a book his dad had read in jail. He also remembered how his classmates used to treat him and beat him, and how there was one that was nice to him. He also remembered how he caused a fight between two classmates to get back at the kid that was always bullying him, and how the guy that had beaten the bully up became friends with him; even though he became friends with a strong looking guy, his teacher still treated him badly, but he didn't send the other kids to beat him up anymore.

CHAPTER 3
Victor finds out that he is being requested to give other talks, and that he was going to get paid for it. He also  meets the prolific writer Louis L'Amour, since L'Amour was having a speech at the luncheon. Victor met him before his speech and he gave him advice on what a writer is and how he should keep up his good work. Victor then went back home, thinking about everything that had happened to him in such a short amount of time.

CHAPTER 4
Victor describes his first day at school. He first talks about how the day before his first day of school, his dad gave him a talk about what he should do, and how he should always remember who his people were, and that he needed to start studying girls because he needed to find the right woman to marry. His dad told 5 year old Victor that he needed to act like a brave boy, and not like a little kid picking his boogers because the girls would not find that attractive. The morning after, Victor felt really nervous, and he didn't want to go to school. Once he got to school, he didn't want his mom to leave him alone, and he started hysterically crying, holding on to his mother's leg. Once his mom left, Victor and the other mexican kids in the class got in trouble because they were speaking Spanish, and the teacher yelled at them saying that only English was allowed in school. Victor ended up peeing his pants because the teacher didn't allow him to. Then, during recess, a teacher started hitting Ramon, another mexican kid Victor met in school, because he was the only one that would not stop speaking Spanish and he kept telling the other mexican kids that they should not be afraid of the teachers. After a horrifying day at school, Victor started having nightmares and wetting the bed in his sleep.