Iguanas Should Be Free & Flaming

Erika Lopez's novel Flaming Iguanas is a creative masterpiece in that it is completely all over the place in all of the best ways possible. The main character, Jolene "Tomato" Rodriguez, is an individual who invests an awful lot of time in performing as different versions of herself. One may initially perceive Tomato as an insanely unique person who can't be tamed, and yet, so many of her perceptions and actions are informed by social rules and norms. This polarity truly shows how Tomato lives every day of her life in conflict with her conditioning, desperately trying to climb her way out of a black hole of expectations and regulations. At certain points in the novel, it may be difficult for the reader to try and answer the question of just exactly how Tomato would like to exist in the world, and this is likely due to the fact that she doesn't really know the answer herself. In these moments of confusion, the reader can relate to Tomato not only because the murkiness she feels towards who she wants to be causes them to feel confused about the novel, but also because, as a human being, the reader has probably felt similarly about their own identity.

When I say that Tomato "performs," I am describing to the best of my ability the way in which she maneuvers through her various relationships, especially those of the romantic or sexual nature. Tomato views all of her relationships as theatrical plays-and she has the lead role. The issue with this is that her characters role is crafted to go along with whomever has earned the role of the love interest/sexual partner, friend, family member, or acquaintance. Even within her minor interactions, Tomato enforces this technique, molding herself into a version of herself that she feels is appropriate for the situation.

A direct example of this technique being placed in action is when Tomato finds herself in a relationship with a trucker named Bert whom she describes as "a big furry guy in his early forties who made me feel all girl" (Lopez 144). She continues to describe the basic building blocks of their relationship, explaining that "Sometimes it's important to giggle, hold in your stomach, polish your nails, and play a very polite little girl" (Lopez 144). This sentence alone is problematic because Tomato is plainly stating-not even implying through subtle undertones to show hesitation-that she feels as though it is sometimes necessary for a woman to act traditionally feminine for the benefit of her relationship or her partner. Tomato allows herself to get comfortable in the relationship, moving in with him, cooking for him, and becoming a canonically feminine woman. In the twenty-fifth chapter of the novel, Tomato describes an epiphanic moment in a beauty parlor; "A couple of weeks later I found myself in the beauty parlor...asking how much it would cost to get my nails extended and painted with rose decals on the tips. I wanted to belong/look like the other women in the grocery store" (Lopez 146). She goes on to explain how her guardian angel Chiquita returns to her in this time of need to remind her not to conform to any set of standards just to feel a sense of belonging, and she soon thereafter breaks up with Bert. When Tomato breaks up with Bert she realizes an important detail regarding her relationships; "Something about that scares me. What exactly, I'm not sure: actually being happy, or that being a homemaker would've made me happy" (Lopez 150). The key detail here is Tomato's exclamation that she may fear happiness. This, along with her need to feel like she belongs, could be the reason for her implementing the sort of crafted-role-technique in all of her relationships. Tomato just wants to belong and is willing to play whatever part she has to in her relationships to feel that feeling of security.

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"Wow, I was nuts, man. I was close to having a fucking garden for this guy. Yeah. I would've worn an apron, made bread, and popped out kids like tiny shiny Life Savers" (Lopez 150).

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In order to truly find out why exactly Tomato subconsciously feels the need to script her relationships and play a hand-crafted role in each of them, I would have to sit down with her and discuss her childhood trauma, charging by the hour. An educated guess as to why she does this, based purely on textual evidence, would be that it is because of the previously mentioned social conditioning and need to fit in that persist through her efforts to be a unique and unsubdued version of herself. Jolene "Tomato" Rodriguez is an iguana penned into the boxes of who she is supposed to be, growing stronger, preparing for the moment that she can run free and flaming, completely herself-whoever that is.

Word Count: 811