Abuela Invents The Zero Summary

The theme of, ‘Abuela Invents the Zero’ helped me understand a larger lesson about how life experiences can shape our values. ‘Abuela Invents the Zero’ universal theme is, It is important to treat your family with respect or you may lose respect for yourself. Let me provide some evidence to prove this theme. First, on paragraph number two we see dialogue. “Connie, please be nice to Abuela. She doesn’t have too many years left. Do you promise me, Constancia?”—when she uses my full name, I know she means business. So I say, “Sure.” Why wouldn’t I be nice? I’m not a monster, after all.” As you can see, Constancia is being somewhat sarcastic. Furthermore, we can also see the theme developed in the actions of the story. For instance “I realize
to my horror that my grandmother is lost. She can’t find her way back to the pew. I am so embarrassed that even though the woman next to me is shooting daggers at me with her eyes, I just can’t move to go get her. I put my hands over my face like I’m praying, but it’s really to hide my burning cheeks.” In spite of this, Constancia did not get up and help Abuela because she was embarrassed that Abuela was roaming around when she should be sitting down. Towards the end of the story, Abuela says, “You made me feel like a zero. Like a nothing.” Therefore, Abuela’s feeling did get hurt because Connie let her be lost instead of guiding her back. Connie had an experience that shaped her values she learned to make new mistakes rather than old ones. This shows that the theme of this story teaches the reader a life lesson on why to treat your family with respect or else we lose respect for ourselves.