Las Papas By Julia Ortega

"Las Papas" by Julia Ortega is a story that tries to convey a simple yet a very realistic message. The story tries to reveal the fact that how over the years, as generation changes, we lose touch to our family values, our history as well as our very own culture. Las Papas is a Spanish word for Potatoes. The story is based on a man and his son. The man tries to pass on his family culture and history to his son, which in this story is more of connected to potatoes. Potatoes in this story symbolizes the memories and history of his family and his motherland Peru. This story highlights the fact and difficulties relating to the migration of people from one country to another, the hardships they face to adjust and settle in new place and how over the course of time, in the process of

The man then started to work on the ingredients. He washed and dried the potatoes, and even before he realized he was lost in his thoughts. A flowing river of past memories hit him hard. He was thinking about all the different varieties of potatoes that grew in Peru. The potatoes from his country were dark ones, almost royal purple like fruit, and delicate yellow ones, like the yolk of an egg. (Pg -172) Many of which have disappeared forever, he was wondering if they had been less firmly rooted in the soil or were they delicate varieties or maybe they disappeared when control of cultivated lands was deteriorating. Potatoes in Peru were of many different varieties, all of which were not available here, in North America. Similarly, after migration people also find it difficult to adjust in different culture and background. Just like all varieties of potatoes could not survive in the weather of North America, author tries to convey that even humans migrating from different country lose their cultural values in the process of coping up with the new