Connie's Abuela Invents The Zero

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

them to do something kind for a poor family, and they did it. They knew if they did not, consequently, Marmee would become disappointed and they would feel guilty for not being kind and generous. Another example would be when they were arguing over who would buy Marmee a present and Beth created a solution, "'let's each get [Marmee] something for Christmas, and not get anything for ourselves."(Alcott para 6). This showed that the March sisters knew that they would be giving presents, but not receiving anything in return. The expectation they set for themselves was that they would not be selfish, but as generous as they could be. The last example of setting expectations is when Amy leaves to "change the little bottle for a big one, and [gives] all [her] money to get it, and [she is] truly trying not to be selfish any more"(Alcott para 27). Amy did not want to seem selfish in giving her mother something less special than the rest of her sisters. She aspired to give the best gift even if she had to sacrifice the money she had saved. The expectations made in “Little Women” impacted their decisions.
In "Abuela Invents the Zero" by Judith-Ortiz Cofer, the characters' expectations influence their decisions in positive and negative ways.

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

assumption made about Constancia, impacts the way she appears, behaves, and makes decisions.

Decisions are based off of the expectations people set for them or the expectations they set for themselves. People aspire to be their best. The characters in the stories “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott, and “Abuela Invents the Zero” by Judith Ortiz Cofer,, prove that everything anyone does is the result of people wanting to be the greatest they can be.