In this fragment from Sandra Cisneros, it is clear that
"they" refers to the unfeeling world, consisting of the police and the hospital and
American society at large, who remain completely unaware of the grim realities of life
for illegal economic migrants like Geraldo. One of the themes of this moving and
poignant vignette is the bleak existence of economic migrants who, out of fear, are
unable to form real connections with others. Note what Cisneros says in this
paragraph:
They never saw the kitchenettes. They never knew
about the two-room flats and sleeping rooms he rented, the weekly money orders sent
home, the currency exchange. How could
they?
Living "undergound" as
an economic migrant means that your life is, of necessity, hidden and what you suffer is
never revealed. This spares the authorities and Marin from feeling grief or
responsibility. As the text says, "Ain't it a shame." To "them," Geraldo's life does not
matter, as he was just another "brazer who didn't speak English." Thus the human tragedy
of economic migration is explained away.
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