Más estrellas que en el cielo

I just finished reading this short story for a class on modern Latin American literature. My professor has a set of, oh, a dozen questions that we must answer for each piece we read. This particular cuento is giving me some trouble. I enjoyed it but I cannot say that I understand it. What is the conflict? Who is the protagonist? I am starting to think that the protagonist is actually a character that does not have a lot of "screen time", shall we say. However, he is the character that causes the action. The conflict is difficult to vocalize. It is similar to the struggle of an immigrant but without the connotation that the word "immigrant" has. It seems to me to be the opposite of a line in the Bible: "A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." (Mark 6:4) In this story at Denny's, we see that U.S. Americans do not understand the value of Latin Americans and their homes. It is only in Latin America that Latin Americans are understood. In the U.S., the average Joe thinks that anyone with almond-colored skin is from Mexico or Puerto Rico and they must be a custodian, chauffer, housekeeper, or nanny. We forget about Gabriel García Márquez, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero, and Simón Bolivar. That's just naming the first few that come to mind. Why don't we appreciate their culture and history? Why are we so blind to the beauty that has come from Mexico all the way to Argentina?