As the protagonist and narrator of the novel, María is a young teenager who has moved from Puerto Rico to New York. Since the novel is told from María’s perspective, all of her thoughts and feelings are relayed directly throughout the text. As she navigates her new environment, she describes her different selves and her reactions to different scenarios. In particular, her heavier emotions are reserved for her family relationships and her school experiences, though she describes many other aspects of her life as well. The core of María’s ongoing conflict, as implied by the title Call Me María, is the struggle to accurately define who she is.

Much of the conflict of the novel revolves around María’s teenage concerns: her relationships with Mami and Papi, her experiences at her school, and her evolving sense of identity. Family dynamics are often a dominant thematic element of young adult novels; however, Ortíz Cofer complicates this common thread in a nuanced way in Call Me María. Not only are María’s parents separated rather than officially divorced, but they have also chosen to live apart for reasons beyond the typical conflicts. María’s father feels more at home in New York, while her mother feels more at home in Puerto Rico.