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The causes of conflict between parents and children
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In the passages from Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, the narrators have points of view different from those of their parents. Write an essay analyzing how these differences in points of view create tension in both stories. Remember to use details from both texts to support your ideas.
On an everyday basis teens all around the world fight and disagree with their parents. In the passages Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun this very thing is clearly demonstrated. Both stories feature two teenage girls that have lost one of their parents. They both now face the daily struggle of agreeing and relating to their remaining parent. In Confetti Girl, the narrator is constantly overlooked and out shadowed by her father’s favorite thing, books and literacy.
The narrator of the passage, Izzy is being forced to move to New Mexico for two months while her mother works in Costa Rica. Moving to New Mexico for the summer is the last thing Izzy wants to do, so she tries every excuse she has to get out of it. But, as Izzy found out, her mom is forcing her to go no matter what she does. This puts her is a state of hopelessness as she tries to argue her way out of the trip in every way possible, contradicting everything that her mother says.“‘This is a wonderful opportunity for you...‘[Izzy] Opportunity? For me? Or for you?’”(33) As shown in the text, Izzy doesn’t understand why she is being forced to go to New Mexico when she could go the Costa Rica with her mom. Although her mother tells her that it is a good opportunity, she doesn’t see why and just sees it as a way for her mother to get rid of her. Also, in Tortilla Sun, Izzy has trouble connecting to her mother because she puts her work first. The only reason Izzy is going to New Mexico is because her mom is going to Costa Rica for her job. In the story, after Izzy is told that she is going to New Mexico, she felt like her input was ignored and her opinion didn’t
As the writer gave freedom to her son, he tore a binder paper from the notebook, and he started writing about any story he wanted. Moreover, she was startled when she saw his story about The Boy In The Red Sox Shirt and Baggy Jeans. It was about a fourteen-year old girl, who
As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others.
In the middle of the text, Izzy shows just how dramatic and shortsighted she is being about the temporary move. “New Mexico is worlds away from California. And what am I going to do for two whole months with someone I haven’t seen since I was six? That was half my life ago. She’s a stranger” (Cervantes 24). This cite delineates that Izzy wants to focus only on the fact that she doesn’t have a good relationship with her grandmother, but in doing so she misses out on the reality that her mom desperately needs Nana to safely and securely take care of her daughter while she earns her degree. I can deduce that Izzy’s dramatic words probably made her mother feel frustrated and furious, only adding to the intense conflict in the passage. On the contrary, the mother in “Tortilla Sun” is definitely not in touch with Izzy’s true feelings, which include loneliness, isolation, and a hint of depression. When Izzy retreats to her room towards the climax of the excerpt, she admits how she’s truly feeling, and the reader can tell that her mom isn’t aware of this fact. “I ached inside. Like the feeling you get watching a lost balloon float far into the sky until it becomes an invisible nothing” (Cervantes 35). This cite portrays
Literature of the Americas has many stories and they all have comparisons, but they also have many differences. “Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Monro and “Crossroads: A Sad Vaudeville” by Carlos Solórzano have characters that share some traits and ways, but like all characters they have things that are different. The old woman from “A Sad Vaudeville” is a dynamic protagonist who finds herself meeting the perfect man for her, but has a dilemma when he is in denial because she is not the ideal girl of his dreams; she’s old. Myra from “Day of the Butterfly” is a static antagonist who does not have the same care free attitude as most of the children her own age. She is rather shy and does not fit in or socialize much with people her own age. She does not derive from a very wealthy family. She is responsible for her brother Jimmy which holds her back from having more age appropriate experiences.
In the opening pages of the text, Mary, nineteen, is living alone in Albuquerque. Vulnerable to love, depressed and adrift, she longs for something meaningful to take her over. Just as she is “asking the universe whether or not there was more to life than just holding down boring jobs”, she takes on the job of helping an illegal (political) refugee, José Luis who had been smuggled from El Salvador to the United States, to adjust to his new life in Albuquerque. She instantly falls in love with him and hopes to start her life over with the new aim of “taking the war out of him.”(p. 4) Providing a refuge for him, Mary, as Fellner suggests, “imagines herself to be whole and complete in the experience of love”. (2001: 72) She willingly puts José Luis as the “center” of her life (p.5) with the hope that “love would free her from her dormant condition” (Fellner 2001: ...
Within every story or poem, there is always an interpretation made by the reader, whether right or wrong. In doing so, one must thoughtfully analyze all aspects of the story in order to make the most accurate assessment based on the literary elements the author has used. Compared and contrasted within the two short stories, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, and John Updike’s “A&P,” the literary elements character and theme are made evident. These two elements are prominent in each of the differing stories yet similarities are found through each by studying the elements. The girls’ innocence and naivety as characters act as passages to show something superior, oppression in society shown towards women that is not equally shown towards men.
Initially, Rios illustrates a young boy perplexed by a new-found maturity. As the maturation from childhood to adolescence begins, he is facing unfamiliar feelings about the opposite sex. An example of this is apparent as Rios explains that the boy cannot talk to girls anymore; at least “not the same way we used to” (Rios 453). Since his emotions have new depth and maturity, the young boy realizes the nature of his friendships has changed. Innocence is further lost as the girls who are former friends, “weren’t the same girls we used to know” (453). The boy has matured from his casual, youthful interactions, and is now seeing the girls in a new light. Another example of his maturity manifests sexually as he reflects about the girls, “and all the things we wanted to do with them” (454). Although he is unsure how to act upon his thoughts, the innocence is none the less tainted by his desires for mature relations with the young girls. The maturity and sexual maturity bring forth a storm of emotions that prove to be both exhilarating and confusing for the young boy.
“Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid is essentially a set of instructions given by an adult, who is assumed to be the mother of the girl, who is laying out the rules of womanhood, in Caribbean society, as expected by the daughter’s gender. These instructions set out by the mother are related to topics including household chores, manners, cooking, social conduct, and relationships. The reader may see these instructions as demanding, but these are a mother’s attempt, out of care for the daughter, to help the daughter to grow up properly. The daughter does not appear to have yet reached adolescence, however, her mother believes that her current behavior will lead her to a life of promiscuity. The mother postulates that her daughter can be saved from a life of promiscuity and ruin by having domestic knowledge that would, in turn also, empower her as a productive member in their community and the head of her future household. This is because the mother assumes that a woman’s reputation and respectability predisposes the quality of a woman’s life in the community.
In “Calling Home”, by Jean Brandt and “An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard, both girls are confronted with their sense of conscience and of right and wrong. In the process, both girls experience memorable lessons as a consequence of the decisions they make. In “Calling Home”, thirteen year old Jean realizes that her actions not only affect her but more importantly, her loved ones, when she is caught shoplifting and arrested during a Christmas shopping trip with her siblings and grandmother. In “An American Childhood”, seven year old Annie realizes that adults and their feelings are valid and that they can be just as vulnerable and full of tenacity as a child after she and her friend find themselves being chased by a man who is none too amused at being a target of their snowball throwing antics. In both stories, Annie and Jean are smug in their sense of power and control. Both girls exhibit a general lack of respect for authority by justifying their actions and displaying a false sense of entitlement to pursue and attain whatever they wish, as if ordinary rules do not apply to them.
This essay has compared the differences between the societies in these two novels. There is one great similarity however that both make me thankful for having been born into a freethinking society where a person can be truly free. Our present society may not be truly perfect, but as these two novels show, it could be worse.
Innocence is something always expected to be lost sooner or later in life, an inevitable event that comes of growing up and realizing the world for what it truly is. Alice Walker’s “The Flowers” portrays an event in which a ten year old girl’s loss of innocence after unveiling a relatively shocking towards the end of the story. Set in post-Civil War America, the literary piece holds very particular fragments of imagery and symbolism that describe the ultimate maturing of Myop, the young female protagonist of the story. In “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, the literary elements of imagery, symbolism, and setting “The Flowers” help to set up a reasonably surprising unveiling of the gruesome ending, as well as to convey the theme of how innocence disappears as a result of facing the harsh reality of this world.
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).
The family has always been and still is the main pillar of society. It is the place where members are born, learn, educate and develop. It must be shelter, pride and joy of all its members. When the family has problems, joys or sorrows internal, affect the whole family. Danzy Senna’s Caucasia is about the comparison between white, black and its mixtures, narrating the story of a blended family in the 70s. Birdie Lee, the protagonist, is a daughter of a black intellectual father and a white mother. Birdie is light-skinned and has a close relationship with Cole, her dark-skinned sister, with whom she invents a new language to communicate. When their parents separate, the two daughters are divided and Birdie’s world goes to pieces trying to find
The author uses imagery, contrasting diction, tones, and symbols in the poem to show two very different sides of the parent-child relationship. The poem’s theme is that even though parents and teenagers may have their disagreements, there is still an underlying love that binds the family together and helps them bridge their gap that is between them.
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