When I Was Puerto Rican When I Was Puerto Rican is a memoir written by Esmeralda Santiago. She writes of her childhood life in Puerto Rico and how she lived in primordial conditions. Santiago paints a vivid picture of her early life which creates unforgettable memories of her childhood. The author talks about her life from her rural home in Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, and to her graduation in Harvard University. The memoir details the struggles and freedoms of a young woman in a new land. In her memoir, Santiago reveals the history of her life and her family in the Puerto Rican Island. She was the first born to her parents, even though she says her father has an older daughter she has never seen. Santiago tells how her parents’ relationship was on the rocks because her mother suspected her dad was unfaithful (Santiago 107). During all this, her younger brother Raymond is badly injured in a bicycle accident. After this incident, Santiago moves with her mother to New York to find better care for Raymond. In addition, Santiago explains how her they were eleven in their family, yet their parents were not married. The history of her family was that of tension and sadness. Santiago reveals a life full of joy, sorrow, laughter, and pain. Esmeralda Santiago is able to intertwine her childhood memories and her experiences together with her family in order to communicate her life as Puerto Rican. Santiago depicts the importance of culture and customs in her memoir. Esmeralda was
In "A Partial Remmebrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood," Judith Ortiz Cofer explains what its like in her family of Puerto Rican Women. Cofer shares the traditions the women carry on in her family, such as, sharing stories and life events. Her story shows how involved the women are with one another and how important lessons throughout the generations are for them. Mama shares a story about a girl by the name of Maria La Loca. Mama says, she was once a beautiful girl and that on her wedding day she looked like a princess.
The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz explores Latin culture in depth from various perspectives. This novel discusses deep concepts surrounding Dominican culture such as love, sex, fuku, gender, and power that shape the characters throughout the novel. These themes alter the way the culture functions and influences the youth into following these stereotypes. Gender, masculinity, and power are very prominent in the novel and often define the character for who he/she is. While the protagonist in this novel is Oscar de Leon, this story is mainly about how this culture and Oscar’s story has formed the narrator, Yunior, into becoming who he is at the end of the novel.
Puerto Rican Culture Religion, culture, beliefs, and ethnic customs can influence how patients understand health concepts, how they take care of their health, and how they make decisions related to their health (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2015). As a nurse, it is important to understand that not every patient shares the same healthcare beliefs. A nurse must be able to perform his or her duties without judgement and care for each patient with respect for their own unique set of beliefs and morals. In this paper, the Puerto Rican culture will be discussed, from family units to religious and cultural beliefs, as well as how Western Medicine fits into their healthcare. Explain the culture.
Instead of looking out for just their nuclear family as the Azande do, Puerto Ricans are more concerned with reciprocity and helping one another. This creates a great difference between the two cultures. A large reason why there is this difference is because
These words by poets Aurora and Rosario Morales, Puerto Rican Americans, reveal the struggle of the average Puerto Rican. For example, most islanders do not fully understand who they are or how to present themselves when someone asks, “What is your family’s ancestry like?” or, “Where does Puerto Rico get its unique culture?” These questions spark the idea of a questioning identity. This is because the island of Puerto Rico was formed with the help of many different cultures. Are the people of this island African?
There were rice plants on my left and farm animals on my right. I grew up in New York City, so you can imagine the millions of questions that were running through my head. I’d never been to the countryside of the Dominican Republic before, but when I finally did, I couldn’t be more ecstatic, despite the scorching Caribbean sun burning down on my brown skin. I hadn’t visited the Dominican Republic since I was four years old. All I had was vague memories of my grandmother’s boisterous laugh and the chickens in the backyard I loved chasing after.
Growing up in Cuba, boys and girls were freely allowed to play with one another. Many girls would climb big trees to get fresh savory mangos. They would fall and scrape their knees while playing hide and seek and even play sports which were considered “manly”. Many girls preferred to work outside the house, they would perform jobs such as; repairing a broken fence or painting the house. Boys were never told not to play with the girls, in fact, they would also help out around the house and clean dishes after a meal.
The members of my family of origin are Puerto Rican. My parents were born in Puerto Rico but their great grandparent’s family of origin were Spaniards, Africans, and the Taino Indians. My family is Christian, Seventh Day Adventist, except my father. He became a Christian 1990. My father was the one who work and my mother was a housewife.
By continuing he finds his true inner strength. In the story, the author shows the importance of perseverance, and how to face the many obstacles that people are presented in their lives to complete their goal. In Coelho's novel, Santiago faces many difficult challenges, but because of his courage and perseverance, he is able to face them head on. While in the town of Tarifa, Santiago meets
Esperanza says that she will come back, she will come back for “the ones I left behind... the ones who cannot out”. (Cisneros 110). Esperanza is able to go through a change and accept who she is through her community and her family. She is able to use her situation to empower herself, and to be hopeful in her own
Esperanza is not proud of her heritage, she even wants to change her name. Her friend she meets,
Lola takes advantage of her deteriorating mother whose illness represents the declining hold of the norms over Lola. Since her mom “will have trouble lifting her arms over her head for the rest of her life,” Lola is no longer afraid of the “hitting” and grabbing “by the throat” (415,419). As a child of a “Old World Dominican Mother” Lola must be surrounded by traditional values and beliefs that she does not want to claim, so “as soon as she became sick” Lola says, “I saw my chance and I’m not going to pretend or apologize; I saw my chance and I eventually took it” (416). When taking the opportunity to distinguish herself from the typical “Dominican daughter” or ‘Dominican slave,” she takes a cultural norm like long hair and decides to impulsively change it (416). Lola enjoyed the “feeling in [her] blood, the rattle” that she got when she told Karen to “cut my hair” (418).
Alvarez and her family have a lot of trauma considering there lives in the dominican republic and living under the dictator,through it all alvarez's parents raised a daughter who would share their story in a fashionable matter that told the story how it was.
Juana Barraza is a serial killer in Mexico. She was born on December 27, 1958 in Hidalgo, Mexico. As a child she had a thought life. Her mother Justa Samperio an alcoholic woman would exchange her to a man called Jose Lugo for a couple of beer. Barraza was sexually abuse; as a result she became a mother at the age of 13.
A personal legend is not just the result found at the end of Santiago's life. It’s more than simply reaching final destination. Santiago personal legend is achieved when he completes what he is doing. “It’s true that everything has it’s personal legend ,but one day that personal legend will be realized ,so each thing has to transform itself into something better ,and to acquire a new personal legend, until someday, the soul of the world becomes one only thing.”