Summary Of Mrs Perez By Oscar Casares

Oscar Casares created a very believable character in “Mrs. Perez” by writing about Lolas passion, bowling, and including flash backs about her younger life and family. He used these flash backs and incorporated her family to go into depth about her past, and let the readers infer why she is the way she is. The bowling ball that is repeatedly mentioned throughout the story contrast her past life. By giving her a hobby, and showing the struggles she has experienced in her past, she becomes like a real person readers empathize with. To begin with, Casares often went back in time to show her seemingly unhappy life with her now deceased husband. He was often overbearing and strict with many aspects in her life. For example, the narrator explains

This added to her character and made her relatable because she found a way to give her life excitement even though she was an older woman that lived alone. As one reads the story, they can see bowling has become her life and she had more intimacy with it than her husband. The author writes about her bowling as if it is the husband she wished she had when he says, “Approaching the foul line, her stride became more fluid as she bent her right knee slightly and trailed her left leg around the back with the grace of a young bride dancing with her new husband for the first time.” But after her favorite bowling ball gets stolen, she loses confidence in her skills, and seems to be very depressed. The bowling bowl most likely represents the freedom she gained after her husband’s death. But yet another man came into her life and took something important to her, and she stood there helplessly. This explains why she is so affected by the loss of a simple materialistic item and not her wedding rings. She did not even bother to tell the police about her wedding rings. In the story is was mentioned as if it were after thought when it says, “In all the confusion, Lola forgot to mention the rings or the busted