So Far from God by Ana Castillo This novel is a story of a Chicano family. Sofi, her husband Domingo together with their four daughters – Esperanza, Fe, Caridad, and Loca live in the little town of Tome, New Mexico. The story focuses on the struggles of Sofi, the death of her daughters and the problems of their town. Sofi endures all the hardships and problems that come her way. Her marriage is deteriorating; her daughters are dying one by one. But, she endures it all and comes out stronger and more enlightened than ever. Sofi is a woman that never gives up no matter how poorly life treats her. The author- Ana Castillo mixes religion, super natural occurrences, sex, laughter and heartbreak in this novel. The novel is tragic, with no happy ending but at the same time funny and inspiring. It is full of the victory of the human spirit. The names of Sofi’s first three daughters denote the three major Christian ideals (Hope, Faith and Charity). Esperanza, the most liberated of the sisters, devoted her life to make other people’s lives better. She became a reporter and later on died while covering the Gulf Crisis. She returned home, to her family as a spirit. At first, she spoke through La Llorona, a messenger who informed La Loca that her sister has died. All her family members saw her. She appeared to her mother as a little girl who had a nightmare and went near to her mother for comfort. Caridad had conversations with her about politics and La Loca talked to her by the river behind their home.
Just as their father wanted, the girls kept their Dominican roots alive and never forgot where they came from. This novel, “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”, is a coming of age novel, where four girls learn through experience how it is like to grow up in a tough time period. In America, the girls had the freedom to attempt almost whatever they wanted because they were free from the constricting rule of the patriarchy that ruled the Dominican Republic. All four were growing up but took separate paths during life to get to where they are as adults. Through the use of multiple narrators, Alvarez creates different perspectives throughout the story. The girls have come a long way from their mother’s color coding system when they were identity less to the women they are today. Each sister fought and conquered some sort of internal or external battle, helping them to overcome obstacles given by society that marked them as different. As adults, the sisters can keep their Dominican roots alive while living in the United States through
Julia Alvarez wrote the novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”. Alvarez, (a Dominican-American novelist) was born in New York City. Her story is about four sisters (The Garcia family) who were living an established, upper class life in the Dominican Republic. They were forced to flee from the Dominican Republic to the United States due to their father’s opposition to Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s dictatorship. The Garcia family were forced to face the challenges that came along with being an immigrant family in a foreign land. In her novel “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,” Alvarez highlights the challenges of immigration, cultural readjustments and family conflicts.
Jonathan Kozol's book, Amazing Grace, analyzes the lives of the people living in the dilapidated district of South Bronx, New York. Kozol spends time touring the streets with children, talking to parents, and discussing the appalling living conditions and safety concerns that plague the residents in the inner cities of New York. In great detail, he describes the harsh lifestyles that the poverty stricken families are forced into; day in and day out. Disease, hunger, crime, and drugs are of the few everyday problems that the people in Kozol's book face; however, many of these people continue to maintain a very religious and positive outlook on life. Jonathan Kozol's investigation on the lifestyle of these people, shows the side to poverty that most of the privileged class in America does not get to see. Kozol wishes to persuade the readers to sympathize with his book and consider the condition in which these people live. The inequality issues mentioned are major factors in affecting the main concerns of Kozol: educational problems, healthcare obstacles, and the everyday struggles of a South Bronx child.
Ana Castillo’s So Far from God (1993), begins its tale by immediately immersing the reader in the full drama that is typical of a Spanish soap opera describing the lives of five Hispanic women. The oldest daughter, Esperanza, wants to make a name for herself and succeeds in doing so by leaving Tome. Fe wants a normal life that she will never be able to have in Sofia’s household. Caridad is a simple soul that would have been content with her high school sweetheart had he not cheated on her. The youngest daughter, La Loca Santa, dies at age three and is resurrected to pray for the people. Lastly, Sofia turns out to be the strongest of the women in the novel by taking a stand for what she believes is right. Castillo uses Sofia and her four daughters to express her negative and distrustful view of patriarchy and oppression of women through class, gender and sexuality.
Here he presents use with some of the main characters who are Nayeli, Tacho, Vampi, Yolo, Matt, and Atomiko. The girls have been affected by the absence of the town’s men who have left the small town to seek work in the United States. The purpose in presenting us with the information of why these men have left the town is to present the fact, of why so many others in small towns like this one have left their towns, in search for work. He also provides a personal account of the everyday life of the people of Tres Camarones in a way that the reader can get a better idea of life in a small Mexican town. One of the main characters Nayeli is a dreamer, who fantasizes about living in a U.S. city and whose father that has left the town to the new world to seek work. The father was the town police man and someone who Nayeli looked up to. Nayeli and her friends take on a task to bring back seven men from the United States, for the purpose of helping to deal with the narcols that have threaten the daily life of the town’s people. But also feel that it is there duty to repopulate the town and prevent it from dying out. At this point the story takes on a different meaning and a new direction of heroism to save the town from the bad men. But the journey has many borders that the girls and one guy have to encounter in order to be successful. There are many different social and
The themes explored in the novel illustrate a life of a peasant in Mexico during the post-revolution, important themes in the story are: lack of a father’s role model, death and revenge. Additionally, the author Juan Rulfo became an orphan after he lost
The struggle to find a place inside an un-welcoming America has forced the Latino to recreate one. The Latino feels out of place, torn from the womb inside of America's reality because she would rather use it than know it (Paz 226-227). In response, the Mexican women planted the seeds of home inside the corral*. These tended and potted plants became her burrow of solace and place of acceptance. In the comfort of the suns slices and underneath the orange scents, the women were free. Still the questions pounded in the rhythm of street side whispers. The outside stare thundered in pulses, you are different it said. Instead of listening she tried to instill within her children the pride of language, song, and culture. Her roots weave soul into the stubborn soil and strength grew with each blossom of the fig tree (Goldsmith).
When were little we start follow the idea of extraordinary stories. This could range from believing in a higher power, to the tooth fairy leaving a quarter under your pillow after you’ve lost a tooth. Once we grow up we need reasons for why certain things happen. These explanations help relief us and gives a sense of purpose to figure out how to live. Ana Castillo does an excellent job of incorporating ways to cope and perceive all of these “extraordinary” events in her book So Far From God. Castillo harped on the importance of women and using them to depict special events. The amount of fiction and reality that occurred when telling the different stories of saints, mystics, pilgrims, healers, mothers and activists allows us as the reader to
In the book, Esperanza doesn’t want to follow the norms of the life around her; she wants to be independent. Esperanza states her independence by stating, “Not a man’s house. Not a daddy’s. A house all my own,” (Cisneros 108.) The syntax of these sentences stick out and are not complete thoughts, yet they convey much meaning and establish Esperanza’s feeling of not belonging. Esperanza’s feeling of not belonging is also emphasized when her sisters tell her that the events of her life have made her who she is and that is something she can not get rid of. Her sisters explain that the things she has experienced made her who she is by saying, “You will always be esperanza. You will always be mango street. You can’t erase what you know” (105.) What her sisters are trying to tell her is that the past has changed her but it doesn’t have to be a negative thing; it can be used to make her a better person who is stronger and more independent. Esperanza realizes that the things around her don’t really add up to what she believes is right, which also conveys the sense of not
Everyday, Esperanza walks past an apartment with a beautiful, trapped woman named Rafaela. As she looks up to the woman listening to music, she offers sympathy. “Leaning out the window so much, gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at.” (Cisneros 79) Every Tuesday, her husband leaves to go to the bar and leaves her there, fearing she’ll leave. Listening to the music, she dreams of dancing and being free; like the older women down at the bar. The only thing she has to being ‘free’ is her
As expected the old women read her palm and confirm Esperanza’s goals, this provided her with a spiritual guidance or reassurance for her to complete her long term goal. Eventually Esperanza and Alicia have made up their mind, in order to improve their home town they will have to leave Mango Street and return when they are well suited to make changes. It is up to them to help change their neighborhood. Although one year has passed she has not left home yet, but she has escaped spiritually through her writing. The narrator has evolved from being tired of who she was to realizing the challenges that she faces to finally accepting them in hopes of changing them. These challenges are in different formats, the idea of women not being treated equally, cultural differences, social classes, spiritual beliefs and most importantly power. She has accepted what she has to face and now she is more determined to help people like her succeed. This change in attitude is remarkable for the simple reason that she is standing up for what she believes in and not allowing outside forces influence her. She has rejected all of the negative factors that stand against differences; she now accepts herself and does not want to change that. It will be quite a while before she is off of Mango Street but the idea behind this is that she will hopefully impact other people’s lives. Hopefully she will teach other young adults to embrace their differences and use them in order to benefit the people around them. This is relatable to the idea of people who were colonizers and the ones who were subject to this practice. In a way Esperanza is the answer to help stop assimilation among cultures, and embrace the diverse cultures we do have. It can also resemble the idea of treating others equally and with respect, this is something colonizers lacked when meeting other
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
She was not a master of style, plot development or characterization, but the intensity of feeling and aspiration are evident in her narratives that overrides her imperfections. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deeply disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact. Esperanza, a Chicano with three sisters and one brother, has had a dream of having her own things since she was ten years old.
Sandra Cisneros’s “Never Marry a Mexican” introduces readers to Clemencia. Cisneros eludes Clemencia as a woman who appears proud of her Mexican heritage, yet knows not how the slanderous phrase “Never marry a Mexican” uttered from her well-meaning mother’s trusty lips about Clemencia’s own Mexican father negatively foreshadows her seedy life and gloomy world perspective later down her destructive journey of adulthood.
Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are not to forget her "reason for being" and "to grow despite the concrete" so as to achieve a freedom that's not separate from togetherness.