During these pages the immigration officers come and take Rodolpho, Marco, and two other men. “We see the First Officer descending, with Marco, behind him Rodolpho and Catherine and the two strange immigrants, followed by Second Officer.” (page 74, line 30) Eddie is soon blamed for calling immigration because of his hatred for Rodolpho. Marco feels betrayed and breaks free of the officers hold and “Marco spits into Eddies face.” (page 75, second to last line) This is a turning point in the plot because until then Eddies true dislike of Rodolpho was never fully realized until he called immigration, no one thought that his hatred went that far. On page 45 lines 7 through 15 Eddie and Alfieri discuss the situation of Rodolpho and Catherine. Alfieri explains that there is no legal question about the subject except on how they entered into the country. On line 15 Eddie assures Alfieri he would never do anything about that. “Oh, Jesus, no, I wouldn’t do nothin’ about that.” Also, before Marco has spit into Eddie’s face, Eddie and Marco had always gotten along and never had any problems. Eddie calling immigration changed the relationship between him and Marco which, further into the book, changed the plot tremendously.
Between pages 45 and 66, something happened to change the way Eddie feels about Rodolpho that deepened Eddies dislike for him. On page 62 Eddie comes home to Catherine and Rodolpho alone in an empty apartment. The two of them are exiting the bedroom together as Eddie walks in. He is furious at what he see’s and on line 19 Eddie kicks Rodolpho out of his house. “Pack it up. Go ahead. Get your stuff and get outa here.” Rodolpho disobeyed Eddie and refused to leave without Catherine. Eddie gives him a day to move out, but Rodolpho still hadn’t gone. This is what changed Eddies feelings towards Rodolpho, he went from a strong dislike of him to a deep hatred. Eddie was ready to do whatever had to, to get Rodolpho away from Catherine, even if it meant he “wont have a friend in the world” as Alfieri said on page 66, line 6.
The climax occurred where it did and not sooner because until page 62 in the story, Eddies feelings towards Rodolpho were not strong enough to cause such drastic decisions. Eddie hoped to not have to call immigration, which is why he went to Alfieri for advice before he called. His hope was that there was some other way to get Rodolpho taken away, but after discussing with Alfieri, Eddie found that there was nothing illegal that Rodolpho was doing except for what Alfieri and Eddie had discussed earlier on page 45.
Eddie calling immigration lead to a change in the relationship between Marco and Eddie. On page 77, Marco accused Eddie of calling immigration and blamed him for Marco now not being able to provide for his children. “That one! He killed my children! That one stole the food from my children!” (page 77, line 13) Because of the changed relationship between Marco and Eddie, further into the story Marco’s hatred for Eddie shows when Marco stabs Eddie and Eddie is brought to his death. If it had not been for Eddie calling immigration, which was the climax of the story, Eddies death would never have occurred.
