Abuela Prevents The Zero Summary

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In the short story “Abuela Invents the Zero,” by Judith Cofer Ortiz, the theme is that family is more important than reputation. One example of this theme was when Constancia was embarrassed of her Abuela. In the story, Constancia states,”I try to walk far behind them in public so that no one will think we’re together” (pp. 260). Through this, it is foreshadowed that Constancia treats her abuela poorly because she is embarrassed of her bizarre and ridiculous nature. Her actions prove that her intentions were not to get closer to her grandmother, but to stay way as much as possible in hopes of not ruining her reputation. Another place where this theme is shown is when abuela gets lost in church. This, the climax of the short story, is