The short story, “Crossing Over,” by NVM Gonzales discusses a young boy from the
Phillipines who has traveled to San Francisco to study. On this long journey by boat, the
author allows the audience to understand the main character through his shoes as the story is
written in the first person point of view. As he narrates what is going on and his thinking
process as he makes his first steps into the United States. The readers are also able to feel his
anxious and frightened state as he is traveling alone to this new country. Where he is in a new
environment, with new people, new culture, and everything he was comfortable with is gone.
Everything is different from what he knows.
The author starts the story with the anxious main character. We are able to hear his
thoughts as he states, “Isn't there anyone in this bright winter sunshine, anyone I might
know?” I said to myself, seeing a little crowd gathering twenty feet below where I stood on
the deck, leaning over the railing, I felt as if I needed a miracle.” From this, the author wants
the readers to understand that as he approaches this country. He feels lonely where his reality
has hit him; in a new environment where he does not have any family or friends. He seems
like he has a lot of worries and wishes a miracle would occur. He believes that he may be at
his limitation and would like something unexplainable to occur to solve all his worries at the
moment. Then when the boy must take a lift to San Francisco as he had to make a detour to
Oakland instead, an old woman offers a ride who he assumes is a witch. Leading him to
reject it and lies to decline this woman’s gesture politely. As stated, “In the meanwhile, a tall
gray-haired woman had come up on our deck and, with a smile even more welcoming than
that of the old man, she said she'd be happy to give anyone a lift… “A witch… thats who this
is,” I told myself… “Friends are coming to get me,” I said-which was a lie, of course.”
Although, unknown whether this woman's gesture was of innocence or had another hidden
meaning. The boy had judged by just her appearance that she was a witch with nothing but
dark intentions leading him to lie that he had friends come. He does not know who to believe
which may be why he may have come to a bizarre conclusion that is probably not true about
the lady being a witch. The boy seemed to be on high alert as he is in a new environment
which is why he had also stated, “My role as chaperone seemed predestined; I would have to
be on alert, lest an innocent invitation for a viewing of a breathtaking moonrise over the
Pacific would become a not too unromantic scene.” At this point, his anxiety made him start
writing all these scenarios and a story in his head. He had decided himself that he had to be
the leader and chaperone for his “friends” who were seasick. Then coming to the conclusion
that having a movie-like romance story on the boat would not be appropriate but there never
seemed to be any chance of this romance blooming anyway. The boy was so troubled that he
seemed like he could not stop these fake scenarios in his head where he seemed like he was
trying to be logical and calm but was paranoid about everyone and everything. This is why he
stated, “How I came of this foreknowledge and sense of obligation puzzles me today. At this
time, I thought nothing of it. Shipboard adventures were the stuff of Hollywood movies, but
my complicity in holding romance and life at bay-where did that come from?” As stated
before, the boy was just so concerned for the unforeseeable future and this disturbed his
thinking which is why he does not understand why he had all these complicated thoughts
then. He seemed to think all of the Hollywood movies that he had seen might come true
because he was in America now. But this is not the case at all.
His catastrophic thinking had not stopped there. On his drive to San Francisco with
the old man instead of the lady, at first, he seemed to be okay. As stated, “I inquired what it
would cost me, baggage and all, to be taken to the city. He named a sum that seemed
reasonable enough. I did not try to drive a bargain.” The main character probably did not
know the average cost for how much it would cost to travel in the United States and he did
not know this old man. However, he had not question it and had decided to take this old mans
offer which is very interesting considering how he was paranoid about the woman before who
had also offered a ride when he did not know either parties. This did not continue long as the
author had the audience once again see the anxious main character going on with all sort of
ideas. During his ride, he thought, “I did observe almost immediately that we had taken the
lower deck of the Oakland Bay Bride. Why not the upper one? I wondered.” It first started
with a wonder and a question as to the drivers decision on taking the lower level of the
Bridge. Nothing too peculiar, but later, he had started catastrophising again. He had started to
spiral into his thoughts of whether continuing his travels with this old man was safe or not.
As stated, “... this mans waiting, his making a move only after the two girls had gone and
now my being utterly on my own-why, here was quite a stratagem. The old man could only
mean harm.” The boy had come to this conclusion that the old man had only bad intentions
which is why he had approached him with this whole elaborate plan after he was left alone.
This may not be totally out of this world and it is good to always be careful. But the author
ends his thoughts with “And, worse, the situation struck me as familiar. I had seen it in all the
movies!” This then makes the audience steer away from the idea that this old man was
actually evil. But that the main character may have been having his eccentric thoughts
because of his abrupt situation of having to ride to this new area with an unknown person. His
paranoia had made his thoughts escalate to make him believe that, “He’d have to rob me, I’d
imagined… and would then have to get rid of me entirely shoving me overboard at the first
opportunity. While his crime in all it's heinousness shaped in my mind, my fingers, seemingly
working on it's own, were busy fumbling… where I found a safety pin for this operation.”
This was the climax of the jumbling thoughts the main character had been making up in his
head. Where he had thought the old man would rob him, throw him overboard, and in order
to be ready for anything. He had searched for his safety pin to take action if the old man had
tried to do anything. Thinking of it realistically, the old man could have done all these
heinous actions but what could he steal from a young student who is here to study. The boy
was just so anxious for his new journey at this new country. The author seemed to want the
audience to experience the rollercoaster of emotions that the main character was newly
experience as he embarks on this adventure. His feelings of fear, anxiety, and troubling
thought when he has no one to rely on but himself which is why he takes out his safety pin
for any sort of protection for the upcoming future.