Judith Ortiz Cofer's Abuela Invents The Zero

Claim: When making a decision, people are often influenced by the pressure society places on them in order to follow the social norm, or what is socially accepted.

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Similar to the March’s situation, Judith Ortiz Cofer's story, “Abuela Invents the Zero”, portrays a teenage girl, known as Constancia, who bases her decision on not assisting her visiting Puerto Rican grandma, off of how society will react to her decision. At the beginning of the story, the author explains that Constancia’s Abuela was flown out by her parents from Puerto Rico, in order to experience snow for the first time. Even though Connie has only seen her grandma three or four times, her opinion about Abuela has been proven to be set when she continuously calls her

“crazy” or “bizarre”.

At one point in the story, Constancia confesses that she is adamant about staying as far away as she possibly can from her grandma, in order to seem as if she didn’t know her. Explaining that Connie is ashamed of her grandma, the author states, “I try to walk far behind them in public so that no one will think we’re together”(Ortiz-Cofer para. #4). Connie is almost afraid of how society will react to her hanging out with her “ridiculous” grandma. She is feeling uneasy and anxious about being with her in fear that someone that she knows will be right around the corner and will see that Connie is doing something that isn’t socially common, or something that she can be mocked or taunted for doing. Based off of Constancia’s actions, it isn’t “cool” to be hanging out with your old grandma because it can ruin your “reputation”. So, when Abuela says that she absolutely has to attend church, Connie is unwillingly forced to escort her grandma there after her mother falls ill with the flu. After they arrive and walk up the stairs, Abuela picks a seat, but soon gets lost. According to the passage, “She can’t find her way back to the pew. I am so embarrassed that even though the woman next to me is shooting daggers at me with her

eyes, I just can’t move to go get her”(Ortiz-Cofer para. #14). Although Abuela is lost and needs help getting back to the pew, Constancia doesn’t help her because she is mortified. In spite of the added pressure to do the right thing by the woman sitting next to her, Connie stuffs her hands in her face and refuses to move. In this case, the pressure that is placed upon her is encouraging her to help her grandma, but Connie’s yearning/desire to maintain her social status and self esteem convince her to desert her grandma. This inclination to fit in with the social norm encourages her to not help her grandma. Even though Constancia makes this decision, she knows that her friends will still make fun of her. Connie despairingly and knowingly says when her grandma became astray, “I just know that on Monday my friends, and my enemies, in the barrio will have a lot of senile -grandmother jokes to tell in front of me”(Ortiz-Cofer para. #14). This quote exemplifies that Connie put her feelings in front of Abuela’s because she wanted to be socially accepted or fit in with everybody else. Connie stranding her grandma in the pew was an example of how social acceptance and social status play into decision making because they cause people to think about themselves rather than others.