The overall theme of Abuela Invents the Zero by Judith Ortiz Cofer is to always treat others with respect. If you don’t show respect towards others, you won’t have respect for yourself. In the story, Connie is very disrespectful towards her grandmother. In the text it states, “I try to walk far behind them in public so that no one will think we’re together,” (Cofer 4). This quote shows how Connie is embarrassed to be seen with her grandmother, and has little respect for her grandmother’s feelings.
In the first couple of paragraphs, Constancia is more worried about her public image than she is of her grandmother or even her parents. Constancia showed no mercy to criticize her grandmother, she thought about how ridiculous she looked in the old coat her mother brought, how slow she walked, where she wanted to sit in church, and even the Catholic religion she believed in. In “A Celebration of Grandfathers”, the main character, Rudolfo, lived with his grandfather since he was a very small child of four or five. In the first sentence of the story, Rudolfo was already grown up and was
The sayings goes back to “ Two wrongs don’t make a right”. Catalina de Erauso is born a “normal” girl. Has a “normal” family with sisters and brothers that can be verified. She writes in her memoir “ My parents, Captain don Miguel de Erauso and dona Maria Perez de Galarraga y Arce, were native-born residents of the town, and they raised me at home with my brother and sister until I was 4”. Yet as a women, her rumbustious cloudy judgement and her outrageous exploits leads her to commit countless of crimes: murder, evading the authorities, disturbing the peace and coming assault.
The overall theme of the short story, Abuela Invents the Zero, is appreciate your family with respect. One example is when Connie's grandmother comes to visit, she does not want to be seen around her because she is embarrassed by the way she dresses and acts. This could make her grandmother feel unwelcomed by her granddaughter. This tells me that Connie is afraid people would see her differently around her grandma and she is going to avoid her as much as she can. When her grandma walks in the door, Connie refers to her as “the old lady”.
Social groups are composed of roles known as insiders. Outsiders are people who do seem to fit in those groups. An individual is not tied down to one of these roles, because there are different kinds of social groups. Although a person may not fit in with one group, the person can be an insider of another group. In the article, “Life as the Maid’s Daughter,” Mary Romero illustrates the events that took place in Teresa's early life.
She watched her mother die slowly and she watched her dad struggle to take care of her. As a young kid or even as an adult watching the person who is supposed to raise you and teach about love, and everything you need to know in life will greatly affect what type of person you turn into. One of the most heartbreaking things you can go through as a child is watching your mother slowly die and then watching your father struggle to take care of her and provide for the family. Ida went through a lot, her mom was sick and then her mom’s sister Clara came to help out and caused a lot of drama in the family. All the fighting put a lot of stress on young Ida, “Mama charged Clara with sneaking into the house like an enemy, charger that she had always covered papa, berated her for taking advantage of illness to have her way” (283).
Generalizations take after specific individuals for the duration of their lives. Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Latina who has been stereotyped and she delineates this in her article, "The myth of the Latin lady: I just met a young lady named Maria. " Cofer depicts how pernicious generalizations can really be. Perusers can understand Cofer 's message through the numerous explanatory interests she employments.
I try to walk behind them in public so that no one will think we’re together.” In another one of Constancia’s thoughts, she shows the little respect she has for her grandmother by not walking near her in public. If Constancia initially accepted her grandmother for who she is, then she wouldn’t feel the need to walk behind Abuela, or pretend she doesn’t know her. “They can see right away that something is wrong. Then Abuela points her finger at me like a judge passing a sentence on a criminal.
The most important factor in why someone chooses to do something is how that action will affect their personal feelings because humans value their feelings more than others '. Connie, from "Abuela Invents the Zero" by Judith Ortiz-Cofer, decided to put her feelings in front of Abuela 's when Connie chose not to help when Abuela could not find her way back to the pew in the church. When Connie noticed that Abuela was lost, she decided not to help her because, "I just know that on Monday my friends, and my enemies, in the barrio will have a lot of senile -grandmother jokes to tell in front of me" (Ortiz-Cofer para 14). This shows that Connie put her feelings before Abuela because she did not want to be teased by her friends. If Connie put others ' feelings in front of hers, she would have stood up and helped Abuela no matter how much she would have been teased because Abuela is family.
She was disappointed and angry at the fact that Connie didn’t help her out at church. This shows that the lack of a close family relationship will cause problems between family members. When you respect and value others, they will feel fortunate to have as their
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor changed the lives of thousands of Japanese Americans, including Mama and her family. As they are uprooted from their home and forced into internment camps, Mama’s character undergoes a profound transformation that shapes her identity and her role in the community. Mama from Farewell to Manzanar is a strong and courageous woman who fought for her family’s survival during World War II. She evolves from a passive victim of discrimination to a powerful and compassionate leader who navigates her family through the challenges of internment. Her journey underscores the resilience of the human spirit and the power of community in times of adversity.
She knows that there will be connections throughout her family that are stronger than most relationships with friends. In the story, Connie does not help Abuela back to the pew leaving her completely embarrassed. In the story, it states “Then Abuela points her finger at me like a judge passing a sentence on a criminal. She says in Spanish, “You made me feel like a zero, like a nothing.” This quote was found in Paragraph 16.
As she must have loved her husband, this has to have been a major hindrance for her to surpass. After she accepts this fact, she can almost be free of her guilt, but not completely. Proceeding this realization, the greatest obstacle she had to face was the fact that Cole’s mother has to file abuse charges against her husband. In her eyes, this is a difficult impediment in her path, but it is necessary for her to conquer it to be free of her guilt and fear. In real life, cases may not always be as severe as this one, but there are many instances where someone has to either succumb to a terror of theirs and live restricted by it, or they could overcome it and live a happier, self-oriented life.
Abuela is a character that shows love and care when seeing people go through adversity, she always is trying to light up a dark room wherever she goes. In Free Lunch written by Rex Ogle, characters are faced with adverse, prevailing conditions. Many of the
The passage “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros describes her personal life experiences in first person point of view by speaking freely and using the word choices “I”, “me”, and “my” various of times. Throughout the passage Sandra talks about what her father expected from her, how he wanted her to be. For example, her going to college, her father believed that college was a great way to find a husband and get married. Furthermore, after four years of college and two of graduate school, she still had no husband and her father thought it was a waste of education. Moreover, living in an all male family was difficult for her, having to work twice as hard than her brothers did just to gain her father's approval.