Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Raspy, soft, and whispery, Amiel's voice is hard to hear. In fact, most of the time, he doesn't bother to use it. So what's up? It takes him the better part of the book to explain how he lost his voice, but when he does, it's a doozy:
Looking at the stick, not me, he said hoarsely, "Mi abuelo let go of my mother to come after me with a rope." (39.21)
Ouch (to say the least). Importantly, though, this revelation about Amiel's past makes it clear that life as an undocumented teenage immigrant trying to make it on his own is far from the beginning of Amiel's hardships. He's clearly been through some seriously difficult stuff, which helps explain his presence in the U.S. Life here might be hard, but at least no one's trying to rape his mom and kill him.
Amiel, then, is a character we might describe as perpetually voiceless. As someone who is in the United State illegally, he has no voice in much of his life. For instance, he can't get a steady job or go to the police without fear of being deported. And knowing what he's left behind in Mexico, it's clear that Amiel wasn't exactly calling the shots before he left, either. In this way, Amiel and his voice stand in for the plight of undocumented workers, those with nothing good to call home and no safety net awaiting them elsewhere.
As Amiel becomes more comfortable with Pearl, he ever so slowly opens up and even speaks aloud a bit, too. Sure, it might be croaky, but Pearl doesn't mind. For a bit more on this, though, you'll have to hop on over to Amiel's page in the "Characters" section. Hop hop hop…