They are expected to remain pure until marriage, and if a woman’s virtue is compromised, it is a scandal that brings shame and disgrace to her family. Sofia, the youngest Garcia daughter, cannot even go and buy contraception in the Dominican Republic because it would be considered shameful to her family. Carlos Garcia always cautioned his girls “I don’t want loose girls in my family” (Alvarez 28). When Sofia returns to the Dominican Republic after living in the United States, she begins to date her uncle’s illegitimate son Manuel. Manuel is extremely controlling and sexist, and also refuses to use protection. Sofia’s sisters go on an adventure with their cousin Mundin to a sleazy motel in town and see Manuel’s car. The sisters are outraged that Sofia is sleeping with Manuel and decide to go home. Once the sisters are home Mami asks them where Sofia is and they say she is with Manuel. Mami is outraged that Sofia is with a man unsupervised and is afraid this will cause a huge scandal to the family and ruin Sofia’s reputation. Yolanda also experiences the old world values about sex with her college boyfriend, Rudy Elmenherst, saying “I’d just gotten over worrying I’d get pregnant from proximity, or damned by God should I die at that very moment…” (Alvarez 97). The beliefs of the Garcia family and Yolanda show the old world values of the Dominican…
Flavio’s Home story started in Slums on outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil when Gordon parks and Jose Gallo were looking for a father with his family to report detailed life such as the father’s financial situation, political leaning, and religion; however; when they were in the way looking for a father they met Flavio. “Flavio was miserably thin, naked but for filthy denim shorts. His legs resembled sticks covered with skin and screwed into his feet. Death was all over him, in his sunken eyes, cheeks and jaundiced coloring” Parks said. Flavio condition turn parks attention to a new story. Parks and Gallo followed Flavio to his home on top of mountainside and discovered how bad the situation was. Flavio’s home reveal a twelve years old boy was like a father for six kids with a lot of responsibilities. When they arrived Flavio started introduce his brothers and sisters. Then Flavio prepared to cook by washing rice. He asked his brothers and sisters to wash up by using the finished water from rice washing. Then he washed dirty floor and washed himself with the rest of the water. He put some beans on the stove to warm and told his sister I would be back shortly but don’t let the beans burn. He came back with wood and took a few minutes rest then he went to get water. After he came back his parent came in he already told them about Parks and Gallo. The mother was pregnant and the angry father who everyone is afraid of him sat at dinner, which Flavio served. “Flavio edged his rice and beans toward us, gesturing for us to take some. We refused. He smiled, knowing we understood.” Parks said.…
However, when the Spanish were able to gain contact with Buenos Aires, some of the social traditions around marriage and patriarchy were shifted. The Spanish were able to “soften” the traditions of marriage in Buenos Aires by not marrying because your parents told you to, but instead by marrying for love; the only boundary the Spanish had when it came to marriage was to be sure that your suitor was “in your circle” and would have the same cultural values as you (Shumway 95). Shumway was able to provide evidence of how marriage began before the Spanish had contact with Buenos Aires, when they had contact with the Argentineans and how this led to a more accepting culture when it ultimately came to the topic of interracial marriage. By discussing the progression of marriage in Buenos Aires in this way, it is clear that the Spanish “softening” the marriage requirements and lessening the role of patriarchal power has allowed the culture to be more accepting of interracial marriage, beginning the first legal action taken towards equality of a minority class (Shumway 113). This lead to an acceptance of diversity throughout Argentina and contributed to close the gap between social statuses and marriage. Cases like Antonio de Avendañano’s brought to court the injustices and unfair hoops he had to jump through in order to participate in an interracial marriage (Shumway 110). Without interracial couples fighting for their right to get married in Buenos Aires, then there would have been no progress on decreasing the patriarchal power and abolishing the traditional marriage roles of the Argentinian…
Once upon a time there was a man named Pablo Davis. Pablo Davis is a strong, tall and intelligent man. He plays professional basketball for a living and graduated from the University of Kentucky. He also makes a lot of money in his profession of basketball and has received the MVP award twice and won the dunk contest three times. One day Pablo wakes up to the sun's light in Cleveland, Ohio. He then decides to take a vacation after the playoffs, but sadly his team did not win. So he decided to go to Mexico to take a break from his hard work. He then goes online to reserve his flight for tomorrow after reserving his ticket he decides to start packing his clothes and deciding what to wear for the week being in Mexico. Pablo decides to get some rest for tomorrow because he knew it was going be a long day. The next he woke up early in the morning to leave to the airport. Then Pablo gets on his phone to get a Uber to take him to the airport. Then the Uber comes fifteen minutes…
This has influenced his belief system, which contributed to the changes in other systems. Manuelito had to adjust into a new society and a new culture. As an immigrant he strongly identify with his culture of origin, however in time he adapted and came to identify more strongly with the culture of his new country. The life experiences Manuelito had in the past continued to affect him throughout his years and have influenced his values and beliefs about education, family, work ethics and individual responsibility. As undocumented immigrants Manuelito’s household was severely distressed by lack of education, overcrowded house due to extended family living arrangement and minimum wage jobs. The immigration policy made their life a bit easier by giving them the opportunity to obtain legal residency status. This allowed them to establish their own business and move out of their distressed…
Junot Diaz was born in the Dominican Republic and immigrated with his family to New Jersey, where a collection of his short stories are based from. Out of that collection is a short story “Fiesta, 1980”, which was featured in The Best American Short Stories, 1997. This story is told from the perspective of an adolescent boy, who lives in the Bronx of northern New Jersey with his family. He is having trouble understanding why things are the way they are in his family. Diaz shows Yunior’s character through his cultures, his interaction with his family, and his bitterness toward his father.…
In the introduction of “Conquistadores De La Calle”, Thomas A. Offit (author) mentions a fifteen year old boy named Rey, who shines shoes for a living since the age of six. Rey was an exceptional shoe shiner who repaired broken heals, restitched bad seams and even could change the color of your shoes being given the chance to. He spends six days a week, twelve hours a day working underneath an overpass in downtown Guatemala City, shining shoes from sun rise to sunset. The author describes Rey as being a well natured child that often works fast and confidently for just one quetzal; about fifteen cents even. Rey was not only a shoe shiner, he also handled the sale of newspapers and cold drinks for an older man named Don Fernando who owns a portable…
Authors of nonfiction text emphasize details of real life events that occur in people’s lives and cultures. In the news article, “Quinceñera Birthday Bash Preserves Tradition, Marks Passage to Womanhood”, author Natalie St. John shares a descriptive account of a quinceñera, showing its significance in the Mexican culture and community. St. John highlights the main character Vanessa Negrete’s rite of passage and its cultural importance by using the organizational structures of sequence and description, and by using direct quotations from members of the community.…
Enrique is at Nuevo Laredo ,where he meets new people can help him. Few days he starts to gets depressed, when he doesn’t see his mother for months. Enrique and his friends help each others to survive. Enrique earn 60 pesos to eat something and make a phone call to his mother. He presumes to make a call, but he couldn’t find his bucket. His friends tell him that he needs a guideline to cross Texas.…
One day, after getting up, Rudy is determined to turn over his New Leaf. He goes to school with happy feelings and is ready for the changes, for the new beginning. Miss Bontempo gives him an English assignment. He has to read and answer relevant questions in a meaningful story about another Mexican kid named Pancho – a boy who is rewarded after his exertions to prove himself. In other words, Pancho is an ideal model for success in resisting discrimination whom Miss Bontempo uses to encourage everyone to follow. Nonetheless, Rudy does not know how to answer the questions, so he decides to meet Eddie. Eddie is an excellent student, a big success in Audubon and now, he is running for president of this. Besides these, he is tutoring Rudy in doing the assignment. He helps Rudy understand his teacher’s desire and make the boy think about these questions in another way. He also gives Rudy “the Secrets of Success at School” – the positive attitude, and Rudy follows his advice.…
The purpose of Judith Ortiz story is to explain how hard, and at times uncomfortable it is to be a Latin woman, because of prejudice and stereotypes regarding their dress. Latin woman, are usually taught to dress in a “mature way”, which many times is confusing to both a Latina and the larger American culture. To a Latina, it is ok to dress sexy, and wear lots of jewelry, and accessories such as tight clothes, bangles, and big hoop earrings on different occasions. This style of dress however, becomes problematic particularly as it is what is taught in the culture as being formal and too often confused with being professional. For Ortiz’s generation, it was ok for woman to wear their best party clothes as she mention, to go and flirt with the boy they like in the park because they were protected by the extended family and traditional Catholic…
As civilizations transformed from barbaric societies into each individually modernized nations, social hierarchy proved to be inevitable. In the short story, “Geraldo No Last Name” by Sandra Cisneros, a fellow named Geraldo was killed in a fatal hit-and-run tragedy (though he could have been saved if the surgeon had no neglected him), however, his background was a mystery, and no one knew his last name or his existence except for a girl he encountered at a dance, Marin. Marin knew little about Geraldo and yet, she was his only acquaintance at the hospital as the severely injured Geraldo waits for the surgeon. Through the words of the narrator, Geraldo was inferred as a possible illegal immigrant, family-oriented, hard-working at first, but since he went to a dance; he must have strayed from that path and had driven himself to the darker side.…
As civilizations transformed from barbaric societies into each individually modernized nations, social hierarchy proved to be inevitable. In the short story, “Geraldo No Last Name” by Sandra Cisneros, a fellow named Geraldo was killed in a fatal hit-and-run tragedy (though he could have been saved if the surgeon had no neglected him), however, his background was a mystery, and no one knew his last name or his existence except for a girl he encountered at a dance, Marin. Marin knew little about Geraldo and yet, she was his only acquaintance at the hospital as the severely injured Geraldo waits for the surgeon. Geraldo was inferred as a possible illegal immigrant, hard-working at first, but since he went to a dance; he must have strayed from that path and had driven himself to the darker side.…
In a Latin American country that is unnamed to the reader, a birthday party held for the head of a major Japanese electronics company brings together a successful crowd to enjoy food, drinks and entertainment by none other than the most desired soprano, Roxanne Coss. The party had been held at the vice president’s home in the hopes of persuading Mr. Hosokawa to build a factory in their country. As the night progresses, and Ms. Coss finishes her performance, a “strong and passionate kiss” is followed by an intrusion of 18 terrorists. The target, the president of the unnamed country, has decided to abstain from the party to stay home and watch a highly anticipated episode of his favourite soap opera. With the discovery that the president is…
This short story is about Jamal, a young man who decides to get married. His mother chooses a beautiful, educated, rich and cultured girl to be his wife. Soon, Jamal gets involved with the wedding preparations and discovers that expenses will be very high. Therefore, he works out a more reasonable budget. However, he still has to raise funds to pay for the expenses. Jamal tries to get a bank loan, but it been rejected it when he finds the loan repayment to be too steep. He is happy to get a small loan from his mother. Finally, on the eve of his wedding, Jamal has no good shoes for his wedding because he had sold his Bally shoes to his Cousin Lan to raise funds for the wedding.…