Answer:
*pants* i.... just.... typed.... my.... fingers..... off.....
Explanation:
Mami is Negi's mother. She's a light-skinned woman and in Negi's perception, is always pregnant. By the end of the memoir, Mami has 11 children. Though she and Papi love each other and spend 14 years in an on-again off-again relationship, they're never married. During times when the fighting gets particularly bad or Papi is gone for long periods of time without explanation, Mami packs up her children and moves them to Santurce, where she has a vast web of family to call on for help. She loves Papi, but she also believes that he sees other women behind her back and believes that this is to be expected of men in general. She desperately wants to be self-sufficient and as such, she's one of the first mothers in Macún to get a job outside the home, sewing bras in a factory. Though this makes her days particularly long (she cooks breakfast and supper for her children in the morning before she leaves), she takes pride in her work and loves having a job. Despite the fact that she cares deeply for her children and makes sure they're fed, dressed, and in school, Mami is often violent and abusive towards them. She demands complete submission and administers beatings when the children fail to comply, though Negi suffers the most. Mami is, however, more reliable than Papi. When Papi refuses to marry Mami, Mami moves her children to Brooklyn and continues to work in bra factories. At this point, Negi realizes that Mami is the only family member she can count on to always be there for her. Mami fully believes that with hard work her children can get ahead, and she encourages them to do well in school so they can go to college.
