A Concrete Garden By Lara Ferrari

A tangle of wild flowers lies in between slabs of a broken sidewalk, and no matter the circumstances, the flowers continue to grow. “A Concrete Garden” by Lara Ferrari is a short story about a boy struggling to be positive in life, and the narrator who is planning on quitting his job as a teacher. Hector lives a bad life in a bad neighborhood with his mom. His dad had just left after abusing Hector and his mom, and on his walk home the narrator finds Hector sitting alone. Before consulting Hector the narrator himself had some problems like quitting his job. By examining Hector's bad neighborhood, the narrator's opinions on Hector's life, and the hidden meanings in the flowers, it is possible to determine that you should never give up

On his way home he runs into one of his students Hector, and notices that Hector doesn't live in a good neighborhood.``Playing for time, I take stock of his neighborhood: grubby posters hang from chain link fences, cigarette butts carpet the sidewalk, sickly sweet smoke blends with the stench of burning rubber…” (Ferrari 1) The narrator observed Hector's neighborhood and found out that he lived in a very unsafe place. Hector didn't seem to mind it which means he’s strongand doesn't give up easily. However, the narrator knew that Hector must be struggling. “Suddenly I am in Hectors world. And assignments and missed tests don't seem so important. So we sit in silence because what do you say to a kid who stays home from school to care for his abused mother?”(Ferrari 1) Hector doesn’t care about his school life because he has to take care of his mother at home. After visiting Hector in his neighborhood, he realized how important it is to not give up on his

Since the story is in first person we gain knowledge on the narrator that we wouldn’t have known from another perspective. “The game is rigged for these kids; their lives are pre-set to failure. And I can't do anything about it.” (Ferrari 1). The narrator is explaining how there is nothing he can do in his job to help the kids, so there is no point to teach anymore. “I watch my letter of resignation burn to ash and allow myself to feel just a little more hopeful about the world I may have just created.” (Ferrari 2).With the narrator's first person point of view, we understand how he feels about certain