Vampires of El Norte

Nena first asks about a red dress when she and Néstor are laughing about the impossible future in which Néstor teaches Nena to be “bad.” The red dress symbolizes Nena’s free will, and her ability to do what she wants without the fear of what other people think. In this fantasy, Nena says she wants the dress to be “bloodred […] And cut so low the tías talk about it for weeks,” and Néstor promises that it will be “As red as fruta guadalupana” (190). In this conversation with Néstor, Nena feels safe enough to consider what may happen if she does what she wants. In the final chapter of the book, Nena wears a blood-red dress at the Nochebuena celebration. No longer afraid of losing her parents’ love, Nena her dream becomes her reality. The dress she wears at the celebration is “redder than fruta guadalupana” and the tías indeed gossip about its color (360). The dress demonstrates Nena’s growth throughout the novel into someone braver than she or Néstor imagined as children. What begins as simply speaking her wishes aloud becomes acting on them and growing into the person who feels comfortable enough to wear the blood-red dress without fear of losing her loved ones.