Underlying Symbolic Structure
'Caramelo' refers not only to the colour of the traditional Mexican shawl, but also to the colour of skin. Skin colour and race is one of the many issues and themes that abound through the novel. As Lala describes so evocatively, the Mexican people are made up of many different shades of caramel..."The girl Candelaria has skin bright as a copper veinte centaros coin after you've sucked it. Not transparent as an ear like Aunty Light-Skin's. Not shark belly pale like Father and the Awful Grandmother. Not the red river clay colour of Mother and her family. Not the coffee with too much milk color like me."