Victor Martinez’s “Parrot in the Oven” is a novel that reflects the protagonist’s school days, his athletic activities, and family life. Victor Martinez experiences as a Mexican-American are the influences that induce him to produce such a literary work with figurative language that he receives naturally from his family. In his life, Martinez’s high school days and his teachers take important role as they motivate his to find opportunities that he can get as a son of a migrant worker. He presents his feeling and emotion for finding his identity and belongingness in his novel. As “Parrot in the Oven” is a coming-of-age story of a boy, the high school days and family life of the protagonist is explicitly presented. Everyone has unforgettable school days that made a great impact on the mind of the person. I can never forget about my school days and the sports activities I have participated, got victory, and met failures. I have learnt not only education, but also life, as does the protagonist of the novel. I would like to describe the high school days, athletic contests, and family matters of the protagonist, Manny Hernandez that is concentrated mostly on the chapters 7 and 8 of the “Parrot in the Oven.”
School days of Manny become troublesome because as a Mexican American, he has to face racial discrimination, inequality, and disrespect. Even though he is not good boxer, Manny wants to be an equipment manager because he wants to be respected. When he and his friend, Albert, get a chance to join Lencho’s boxing team, he feel proud that he can defeat white by winning boxing matches. Due to racial discrimination, Manny was not accepted in schools of white. Thus, he naturally gets hatred towards white, as they are being recognized ev...
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...mily circumstance of the Mexican American boy, Manny, to present the familial pattern of the migrant and their struggle. Manny’s father is a drunkard and has no care for his family, but he loves his family. When Manny’s sister, Magna, becomes pregnant and gives birth to a premature baby, his father shows much care for her that shows he has realized the fact that he has to adapt to the surroundings instead of struggling against it. Magna is the only person who brings money to the family unlike her father and brother and helps her mother to run her family. Manny mother feels very bad when she gets embarrassed in the hospital. She feels that this ill-treatment happens to her not only because of discrimination, but also because of her husband’s disregard. Thus, Martinez shows the family condition a Mexican American boy who faces disgrace in school and unstable family.
In Conclusion, Victor Martinez's “Parrot in the oven” is a Bildungsroman, a coming of age novel where the main character learns a valuable life lesson, because through Manny almost killing his baby sister, through Magda having a miscarriage and almost dying, and through Manny joining a gang, therefore, grows up. Manny finally realize things the hard way and decides that he don't want to live the hard way so he is now not a “Parrot in the oven”
Alfredo Corchado — is the author of the book named " Midnight in Mexico:A Reporter's Journey through a Country's Descent into Darkness”. We are, probably, all interested in finding out the facts, news, and gossips about Mexico. This country was always associated with something mysterious. For me personally, the title of the book seemed to be very gripping, I was interested in revealing the secrets of life in Mexico, thus I decided to read this book. I was really curious, what can Alfredo Corchado tell me about the life in this country, the country, where the constant massacre is the picture, people used to see. In his book, the author tells the reader about the real situations, which took place in Mexico, reveals the secrets of the people’s lives and tells the story from the “inside”. He describes the way he lives his life, and does his work. The " Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter's Journey through a Country's Descent into Darkness” is a memoir. Author tries to transform his own experience into the story line. Corchado shows the reader the darkest episodes of Mexican society, while relying on his own experience.
Parrot in the Oven, by Victor Martinez, is a novel that portrays the lives that forty-five million Americans live every day from the point of view of Manny Hernandez, the main character of this book. He is a Mexican-American citizen who lives in the projects of his hometown in California. Manny lives with his mother, his abusive father, his two sisters Pedi and Magda, and Nardo, his irresponsible older brother. Throughout the story, Manny goes through many big events that help him discover what his real values should be and who he really is. Scenarios including speaking too soon, rebelling against his father and joining a gang that changed his character drastically. Manny gradually shifts from obliviously reckless, to outgoing and cautious,
path and life for himself. Manny grew up here by realizing through the Garcia’s and the gang he doesn’t
In the case of José, born and raised in Mexico, he had to assimilate by eventually learning English to acquire a job to support his wife, María, and his children. Movie critics may argue that Rosa and Enrique’s journey to Los Angeles has a greater impact than that of José. Traveling from Central America to North America is a hard journey to go on. While the path Rosa and Enrique had to take to reach the United States may have been more arduous, comparing the two journeys is an unfair assessment. José’s expedition to Los Angeles, while it was not shown as a visually dark time of his life, did portray how an immigrant may cross the border into America in a different way. In addition, since both films have the same director, Gregory Nava, his decision to emphasize the act of illegally crossing into America in one film and not the other allows him to the artistic license to portray other portions of life as an immigrant. In My Family, Mi Familia, Memo and Toni’s characters depicts the generational changes a family living with two cultures may
The novel Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is a book that was written in order to provide “Some instructions on writing and life.” Lamott published the book in 1994 in hopes to share the secrets of what it is truly like to be a writer, as both a warning and as encouragement. Bird by Bird shares with the reader the ironic truth of being a struggling writer through personal experience and humorous stories. Lamott uses memories from her past to help illustrate her points and to help the reader get to know who she is, not only as a writer, but as a person. The author focuses on the true struggles and benefits of being a writer while using metaphors and analogies to express her points, she also wraps her life stories around almost every writing tip.
Junot Diaz’s “Otravida, Otravez” depicts a perspective of life where one’s present and future always reflects their past in some way. Diaz’s representation of symbolic figures, convey how a person’s past can be carried into the future. Diaz’s use of symbolic figures includes the dirty sheets washed by Yasmin, the letters sent by Virta to Ramon, and the young girl who begins working with Yasmin at the hospital. These symbolic figures and situations remind the readers that the past will always play a major role in one’s present. Additionally, Diaz’s word choice, where Spanish words appear in many different parts of the reading, suggests that indirectly, one’s past habits are not easily broken.
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth chapter, namely the domestic abuse scene, functions as a pivotal point in the Mother Tongue as it helps her to define herself.
Martinez’s logic is established throughout the article. She appeals to the reader’s sense of self and indignation. Most of us do not like to be talked down to. She persuades the reader to think about what it would feel like to
Martinez’s story is not so much one that pieces together the events of the crash, nor the lives of the three youths, but it is an immigrant’s tale, discovered through the crossings of the various Chavez family members and profiles of Cheranos in Mexico.
Soto’s “Black Hair” is a perfect example of a poem that is effective through close analysis of certain concrete images which hold the key to the foundation of the poem and its underlying themes. In this poem, the universal themes of family and culture are hidden under the figure of Hector Moreno, the image of the narrator’s hair, as well as the extended baseball metaphor about culture. Although the title may seem ordinary at first glance, the challenge that the poem presents through its connection of concrete images and themes is very intriguing, and the themes are made clear through the effective use of certain poetic elements.
Thesis Statement: Mary Aprarico Castrejon’s essay “The Fighter Bird” reveals her family’s poor living situation and the grit which members of her family, like herself and her papi, have despite of their situation.
The Song of the Hummingbird, written by Graciela Limon, is a novel telling the story of Huitzitzilin an Aztec survivor whose kingdom fell to ruin by her nation's blind reliance on God. The book features Huitzitzilin as the narrator of the story and Father Benito as a naive journalist of sorts. As the story begins, Father Benito meets Huitzitzilin while he’s taking confessions in the church. Through this transaction; Benito is told by the head of the church to take note of the history Huitzitzilin has to tell, while absolving her of her sins. As Benito begins to hear her story, his irritation and discomfort with hearing it becomes clear. He fidgets, buries his head in his hands, and at times even threatens to leave. The reasons for this comes from what Benito knows from history books and the teaching of his faith, Huitzitzilin begins to pick up on things as she tells her story. She uses this to mess with him at times and to distance him from the mindset that he’s just a tool for his god’s word. When the story draws to a conclusion, Benito sees Huitzitzilin story for what it is, he and his people are no different than hers, yet they treated them as savages.
Within the works of “Fiesta, 1980” it takes us in the lives of a Latin American family. We are described a traditional style Latino family were there is a dominate father figure, a submissive mother, and obedient children more or less. There are two boys the eldest Rafa and the youngest Yunior and their younger sister Madai. During the transgression of the story it is conveyed through the eyes of Yunior. And like any typical family it has its own story to tell.
Several months prior to the opening of the story, the Colonel’s son, Agustín, had been killed at a cockfight for distributing secret political literature. The Colonel is torn between his desire to keep his son’s prizefighting cock in order to enter it into the cockfights in January and his need to sell it to provide food for himself and his wife. The story focuses primarily on the Colonel’s pride in trying to conceal his poverty-stricken state and his ironic and humorous outlook to his situation. The central metaphors in the story are the pension, which never arrives, but for which the colonel never ceases to hope, and the fighting cock, which also represents hope, as well as his son’s, and therefore the whole village’s, political rebellion. Although at the time, he was under political oppression he keeps his pride and dignity.