Song of the Hummingbird
Jon Ryan
Professor Orona-Cordova
Chicano Studies 115
17 September 2012
Expository Essay #1 Throughout the course of his novel Barrio Boy, Ernesto Galarza does a superb job of capturing the many intricacies and emotions that were associated with his culture during the time period in which he lived. Galarza’s story encompasses his own personal experiences as well the condition of his surrounding environments and neighbors. Galarza also goes in depth about the terrain and location of the various cities he traveled to through the duration of his childhood. Although this story is designed to portray the early life of Ernesto Galarza, it also does a tremendous job of capturing the essence of
Hispanic culture during his time. Galarza is quite vivid and detailed when describing his hometown of Jalco and its inhabitants.
This assisted in conveying some strong imagery of the small town. For example, Galarza elaborates in great detail about the houses, street and people of the town. A small excerpt verifying this can be seen when Galarza states “There was a row of cottages on each side of the street, adobe boxes made of the same packed earth on which the houses stood” (Galarza, 6). This allows for the reader to better understand just exactly how Galarza viewed his childhood town. Galarza’s plight regarding being forced to move multiple times is also brilliantly captured in the novel. Having no choice but to move from home to home is undoubtedly difficult and Galarza enables certain readers to relate to this by mentioning the difficulty he had acclimating to new environments.
Even though Galarza does not complain in excess about having to move often, it must have troubled him since he had to leave behind his beloved animals and cousins. One of the reasons why the book was so enjoyable was due to personal experiences I could relate with Galarza on. Having lived in a number of homes in my life, I found that Galarza’s
Professor Orona-Cordova
Chicano Studies 115
17 September 2012
Expository Essay #1 Throughout the course of his novel Barrio Boy, Ernesto Galarza does a superb job of capturing the many intricacies and emotions that were associated with his culture during the time period in which he lived. Galarza’s story encompasses his own personal experiences as well the condition of his surrounding environments and neighbors. Galarza also goes in depth about the terrain and location of the various cities he traveled to through the duration of his childhood. Although this story is designed to portray the early life of Ernesto Galarza, it also does a tremendous job of capturing the essence of
Hispanic culture during his time. Galarza is quite vivid and detailed when describing his hometown of Jalco and its inhabitants.
This assisted in conveying some strong imagery of the small town. For example, Galarza elaborates in great detail about the houses, street and people of the town. A small excerpt verifying this can be seen when Galarza states “There was a row of cottages on each side of the street, adobe boxes made of the same packed earth on which the houses stood” (Galarza, 6). This allows for the reader to better understand just exactly how Galarza viewed his childhood town. Galarza’s plight regarding being forced to move multiple times is also brilliantly captured in the novel. Having no choice but to move from home to home is undoubtedly difficult and Galarza enables certain readers to relate to this by mentioning the difficulty he had acclimating to new environments.
Even though Galarza does not complain in excess about having to move often, it must have troubled him since he had to leave behind his beloved animals and cousins. One of the reasons why the book was so enjoyable was due to personal experiences I could relate with Galarza on. Having lived in a number of homes in my life, I found that Galarza’s