Characters How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water Angie Cruz

Fernando Character Analysis in How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

Overview

Fernando Romero is the only child of Cara Romero, the novel’s narrator. He is conspicuously absent for most of the story, having left his mother’s Washington Heights apartment years before the job‑counseling sessions begin. His departure follows a domestic accident in which Cara, in a moment of anger, threw an iron that struck his face. Fernando later obtained a temporary order of protection against her, severing contact. Though he appears only in Cara’s memories and in the reports of others, his absence drives much of the novel’s emotional arc—Cara’s guilt, her longing, and her repeated efforts to find him shape every chapter.

Plot Role

Fernando’s role is that of a silent but powerful catalyst. The plot moves forward not through his actions but through Cara’s reactions to his absence. She seeks him in the Bronx (Session Three), learns from his roommate Alexis that Fernando does not want to see her, and later discovers he obtained a legal order of protection (Session Seven). His presence is felt in every job‑counseling session as Cara circles back to her failures and regrets. In the final chapter, he sends a takeout delivery on Mother’s Day with a note, offering a fragile hope of reconnection. His plot role is thus to embody the unresolved past that Cara must confront to move forward.

Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions

Because the story is told entirely from Cara’s perspective, Fernando’s inner life is inferred. The evidence suggests he is quiet, gentle, and possibly gay or queer—his roommate Alexis is flamboyant, and Cara worries that Fernando is “soft.” When Cara visits the Bronx apartment, Alexis tells her, “Fernando doesn’t want to see you,” implying Fernando himself made that decision. Fernando’s choice to obtain a legal order of protection is a decisive, boundary‑setting action that contrasts with his earlier passivity as a child.

As a boy, Fernando did not fight back when other children took things from him. Cara scolded him for being a “pendejo” (ch. 3). He was protective of his privacy, and Cara insisted on keeping his door open. These traits—non‑aggression, introversion, a desire for autonomy—are consistent with a young man navigating a world that demanded toughness. His later actions (moving out, cutting contact, building a life without his mother) show a growing determination to define himself on his own terms.

Chronological Arc

  • Birth in Hato Mayor (1970s): Cara gives birth alone, catching Fernando herself (Session Nine). She soon leaves his abusive father, Ricardo, and flees with Fernando to New York.
  • Childhood in Washington Heights: Fernando is a quiet, obedient boy who struggles to defend himself. Cara worries he is too soft and pushes him to be stronger.
  • The Christmas Party (mid‑1990s): Fernando meets his cousin Elvis, who is rumored to be gay. Cara sees something change in Fernando’s face and fears he shares that identity (Session Three).
  • The Iron Accident (1998, per Cara’s timeline): During an argument, Cara throws an iron that hits Fernando’s face. He leaves home soon after (Session Eight confesses this).
  • September 2001: Cara obtains Fernando’s address from her brother Hernán and visits the Bronx. Alexis tells her Fernando does not want to see her (Session Three).
  • Temporary Order of Protection (date unspecified): Fernando obtains a protection order, banning Cara from contacting him (Session Seven).
  • Mother’s Day 2009 (Two Months Later chapter): Cara finds a takeout delivery from Fernando with a note, indicating he still thinks of her.

Relationships

Cara (Mother)

The central relationship is one of rupture and longing. Cara admits that she never asked Fernando about his inner life—only warned him about girls and the streets. She regrets not defending him when her own mother insulted him in Hato Mayor (Session Nine). Fernando’s protective instinct toward Cara is evident when he confronts Ricardo at age sixteen. Yet Cara’s controlling behavior—refusing him privacy, pushing him to be tough, and the iron accident—drove him away. The order of protection legally formalizes a distance he had already enforced.

Alexis

Alexis is Fernando’s roommate in the Bronx. Cara assumes he is “different,” and his presence suggests that Fernando has chosen to live openly with someone who may share his sexual orientation. Alexis acts as a gatekeeper, protecting Fernando from Cara’s intrusions. Their friendship or partnership (the evidence does not specify) represents the life Fernando built after leaving home—one that Cara cannot access.

Ángela and Hernán (Aunt and Uncle)

Fernando had a strong connection with Ángela, speaking English with her in ways Cara could not understand (Session Eight). Hernán helped Cara find Fernando’s address, but Fernando did not seek contact with them either. They remain part of his extended family network, though he stays detached.

Key Decisions and Consequences

  • Decision to leave home after the iron accident: Fernando chooses to break contact rather than stay in a volatile household. Consequence: he gains safety and autonomy but also years of estrangement from his mother.
  • Obtaining a temporary order of protection: This legal step forces Cara to stay away, ending her unannounced visits. It underscores the severity of the hurt and Fernando’s need for a formal barrier.
  • Sending a Mother’s Day delivery in 2009: This small gesture suggests he is open to occasional contact, though he does not yet confront the past directly. It gives Cara hope and leaves the relationship unresolved at the novel’s end.

Theme/Symbol Connections

  • Survival and Resilience: Fernando’s story shows that resilience sometimes means leaving—a counterpoint to Cara’s own survival narrative. He survives his childhood by creating distance. See the survival and resilience theme page for a broader discussion.
  • Immigration and Displacement: Fernando’s escape from Hato Mayor and his later move to the Bronx mirror the displacement that many first‑generation children feel. He is caught between his mother’s Dominican traditions and his own American identity. More on this at immigration and displacement.
  • Family Obligation and Sacrifice: Cara sacrificed for Fernando, but her sacrifices came with strings attached—obedience, visibility, toughness. Fernando rejects that bargain. The theme is explored further on family obligation and sacrifice.
  • Intergenerational Trauma: The accident and the subsequent estrangement echo the abuse Cara suffered from her own mother. Fernando becomes a living consequence of that cycle. Read more on intergenerational trauma.
  • Gentrification and Housing Insecurity: Fernando’s Bronx apartment is modest and his order of protection ties him to a legal system that Cara distrusts. Housing instability affects both characters. See gentrification and housing insecurity.

Questions and Answers

  1. Why did Fernando leave home?
    The direct cause is the iron accident. In Session Eight, Cara confesses that she threw an iron at the door and hit Fernando’s face. He left shortly afterward and never returned. The accident symbolizes the last in a series of boundary violations that pushed Fernando to protect himself.

  2. Does the novel ever reveal Fernando’s sexuality?
    No. The narrative never explicitly states Fernando’s sexual orientation. Cara’s suspicions—based on the Christmas party with Elvis and his friendship with Alexis—are interpreted many ways. The evidence is suggestive but not definitive.

  3. What is the significance of the temporary order of protection?
    It is the legal formalization of a rupture that had already occurred. In Session Seven, Cara references the order as a concrete barrier. It shows that Fernando took active steps to enforce his distance, contrasting with Cara’s belief that a mother never gives up.

  4. Does Fernando ever reunite with Cara?
    Not in a face‑to‑face meeting. The novel ends two months after the last counseling session; Cara receives a takeout delivery on Mother’s Day with a note from Fernando. This is the first direct communication she has had in years. The ending is deliberately ambiguous, leaving reunion as a possibility but not a certainty.

  5. Could the novel be read as Cara’s reckoning with how she treated Fernando?
    Yes. Many readers interpret the sessions as Cara’s gradual acknowledgment of her own faults. The confession in Session Eight is the turning point. The novel does not exonerate Cara, but it shows her beginning to see Fernando’s perspective. For a full discussion of the conclusion, see the ending explained.

For further exploration of the novel’s characters and plot, consult the main book page or the questions and answers resource.