Don Simon's Point In "Zoo Island"

The story, "Zoo Island", by Tomas Rivera, talks about immigrants. When Jose, the main character, takes a census count, they counted everyone but a man named Don Simon. Don Simon is a grumpy guy that makes Jose scared. One of Don Simon's points is to cause a little conflict in the story. When he got angry with Stumpy for needling him, Don Simon chased him all around the field with a knife. Without this the story would be much more boring and not very complex. When Jose went to question him for the census, he used the vaguest answers possible. 

"How old are you?"
"Old enough."
"When where you born?"
"When my mother born me."
"Where where you born?"
"In the world."
"Do you have a family?"
"No."

He was said to be a man of few words. But there was something in his eyes that made people jump.

Even though Don Simon only appeared towards the end of the story, he still has many important roles to play. He was the one who named their town.  He called it, 'Zoo Island'. I think he called the town that because the first part, "zoo", relates to them because they don't have very many laws. When Don Simon sliced Stumpy with a knife, no one did anything about it, for example. The 'island' part relates to them because they are isolated from other people.

When Jose first began questioning Don Simon for the census, he wasn't very enthusiastic.He barely answered and wasn't to happy about it as well. He drastically changed, though, because after Jose took Don Simon in the census, he said, "Well, you know, I kinda like what y'all are doing. By counting yourself, you begin everything. That way you know you're not only here but that you're alive." He took a huge change from being grumpy and uninterested to being supportive. Don Simon is a very important character in Zoo Island and may be even more interesting than you think.