The Mirror of Infinity"Tularecito" is a myth about truth. Tularicito, a character from that myth, is the fulcrum of this masked tale. Steinbeck uses this form of genre to present the idea that we are all separate from what happens to others, based on our nature. The image presented of Tularecito is that of a demon, an idiot, a boy with a gift from God, and the cost of the gift. He is a monster, a dangerous misfit, an innocent who has no need of the constraints of reality. Tularecito is proof. The test is of moral caliber. It is proof of the souls of the characters that overshadow Tularecito. Pancho is a holy man and a sinner at the same time. His purported act of going to church becomes a true belief as the demons of alcohol cause him to hallucinate a deformed boy turning him into an outcast from hell. He looks in the mirror and sees himself, he shakes himself, he reforms. From Pancho's employer, Franklin Gomez, we get a cold, hard look at society. We see a mother, knowing that her son is to be hated and feared, and perhaps perhaps killed, cannot face the idea of killing him with her bare hands. He leaves the killing to exposure to the elements, allowing himself a look at Tularecito. Franklin adopts Pancho's demon and Tularecito transforms into a talented underdog. Tularecito becomes a man at the age of six: "The boy grew rapidly, but after the fifth year his brain no longer grew." For Franklin, Tularecito is graceful and ungainly. He is talented in all things that require any physical strength, he is very skilled in creating beauty and an artist in nurturing the life of nature. Tularecito's touch brings beauty, life and love to the world, until he becomes angry (if anyone endangers what came from the touch of his hand). Franklin looked in Tularecito's mirror and saw what Tularecito was.
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