Connie's Abuela Invents The Zero

659 Words2 Pages

Expectations of Yourself The most important factor in why people choose to do something is based on the expectations they set for themselves or the expectations people create for them. This occurs because people aspire to be their best. Although some people do not have the drive to keep improving themselves, they may want to change to fill the expectations of their peers. In the story, "Little Women", it presents that people base their decisions off of what people want themselves to be or what other people want them to be. For example, in the "Little Women", the March sisters are hungry, but they still ask to "go and help carry the things to the poor children."(Alcott para 34). The sisters had been raised to give to others. Marmee had asked …show more content…

When Connie's Abuela first arrives, she is wearing a thick black dress and a shawl, even though it is snowing. Abuela then puts on a coat too big for someone her size, and this causes Constancia to "[...]walk far behind them in public so that no one will think [they are] together" (Ortiz-Cofer para 4). This suggests that Connie was embarrassed by her grandmother, the cause being the way her Abuela is dressed. Connie felt as if her reputation had been threatened by being seen with her grandmother, which was the reason for her actions. In the story, Connie is forced to take her Abuela to church, but when her grandmother becomes lost, she doesn't help her. The only thought Constancia has, is when she goes back to school all of her friends and enemies “will have a lot of senile -grandmother jokes to tell" (Ortiz-Cofer para 14). Constancia was willing to hurt her own family to save her social life because of the pressure to be perfect. She knew that if she was seen with her abuela, when she went to school on Monday, people would make fun of her, therefore, Constancia didn't want to go to the mass because "[...] everyone [she] ever met is there"( Ortiz-Cofer para 11). Connie is only worried about what strangers and her social peers will be under the impression of. Constancia's social obligations change almost every decision she makes. Every

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