American History Judith Ortiz Cofer Analysis

In the short story “American History” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Elena has always felt alone in her small New Jersey town. The only person who was actually there for Elena was Eugene, one of her new neighbors. As Elena finds out that Eugene and her share similar interests, the two friends become closer and closer. Elena soon begins to fall in love with Eugene, but she doesn’t realize that some things aren’t meant to be.
While reading outside, Elena would peer into an old couple’s window and watch them live their lives to avoid hers. Once the old man had passed away, his widowed wife had moved out of the house, leaving it empty. A few months later, Eugene and his family had moved into the old, abandoned house. When Elena first saw Eugene, she wanted

to meet him right away. She did her research about him by watching him on her fire escape, and she figured out that they both love to read. Even after she had met Eugene, she kept on watching him. She was in love with him, and she didn’t even know it… that is until her mother scolded the way she was acting. “Elena, you are acting ‘moony.’”(Cofer 3) But Elena would remain persistent. All she wants to do is enter “the house that I had watched for so many years.”(3)
President Kennedy’s was assassination had put the town in a very deep sorrow. “There was an eerie feeling on the streets” (4) Nobody was doing anything normal. It was a sad day for all the residents in Paterson. The kids and teenagers, however, didn’t understand. They left school unfazed by the depressing event, and one of these kids was Elena. She was excited because she was going to go over to Eugene’s house for the first time. She prepared for her visit with cute clothes, shoes, and even makeup. By the time she was about to leave, her mother had stopped her in her tracks, telling her that she shouldn’t get her hopes up. “You are forgetting who you are, Girl. You are heading for rejection and pain.” (5) Elena had thought that her mother was just upset because of Kennedy’s death, but she was right. As Elena knocked on Eugene’s door, his mother answered and told Elena to go home. “He is a smart boy. He doesn’t need help.” (6) Broken, Elena walked home with a very important lesson branded into her mind.
Even if President Kennedy hadn’t been assassinated, Eugene’s mother still would have been mean to Elena. Eugene’s mother was extremely stereotypical, and judged Elena for her nativity and lifestyle. Like Eugene, Elena was also very smart, but she didn’t speak English as her first language, so people would just push her aside and assume she was dumb. If Elena had reconsidered who she was and how people thought of her, she would have realized that their relationship probably wouldn’t have worked out the way she wanted it to.