The Boy Kings Of Texas Sparknotes

The Boy Kings of Texas and My Beloved World

The Boy Kings of Texas is a memoir written by Domingo Martinez. It is a Mexican-American coming of age narrative that has received the National Bok Award. The book is about a junior boy named Martinez and the traumas a young person can face while growing up in Brownsville, Texas. The boy was subjected to beatings from his father and never got the love he wanted from his mother. Moreover, Martinez and his siblings had a rough time to bond in the unique clash of the cultures in South Texas and this affected their lives. Martinez was born in a family of an abusive father and an uncaring mother, and due to this complicated relationship with his parents, the protagonist ended up with devious behaviors.

My Beloved World is a book written by Sonia Sotomayor. It is a story about a girl with an unstable childhood, but she made it on top in the American elite world. Sonia writes about her childhood life, education, and how she made it through to the United States Supreme Court, she was a Hispanic. Sonia was an underprivileged, but bright child in the society who made it to the top despite her family background. Growing up with an alcoholic father, Sonia writes that, he died while she was 9 years, but her mother was very supportive for her and her brother especially when it came to education (Sotomayor 167). Sonia had to struggle in life especially after being diagnosed with diabetes; she had to inject insulin on her own because her mother was not even there to help her do that. Moreover, Sonia struggled in her life through hard work and the support from her grandmother in order to make it to the top.
The family life in the stories is a bit alike as the protagonists both suffered in their childhood. The children in The Boy Kings of Texas were born in a poor family in Texas, and they had to adapt to the situation and become real Americans or rather white people. In addition, the family here did not accept who they were in the society; they were determined to forget their parent’s culture and language in order to fit into the American society by becoming white people. The protagonist is seen criticizing his friends on how they walk, live, and dress, because in his mind, he was convinced that he was better than them (Martinez 201). Additionally, the family members in this story were all desperately trying to assimilate and escape the life on the boarder in order to become real Americans at the price of their mutual family history because, their parents had made them believe that, being an American and speaking English makes one superior to being Mexican and speaking Spanish. The Boy Kings of Texas story presents a dysfunctional family whereby the characters were ready to do anything in order to escape from their depressing childhood, and so the protagonist ran away from violence, alcoholism, machismo and adultery the father had exposed him to. Moreover, the family in The Boy Kings of Texas was always together in dealing with their family issues even though at times, they got on each other’s nerves.
The difference between the families in the two memoirs is that, for Martinez, his mother was unsupportive, but for Sonia and her brother, their mother supported them especially education wise.

Sonia Writes, even though her mother was icy at times, she supported their education by buying them an Encyclopedia Britannica which was expensive for them at that time. In addition, in My Beloved World, the grandmother named in the story was very friendly to Sonia compared to the one in The Boy Kings of Texas who is only known for killing Martinez grandfather by denying him insulin when he needed it. Sonia’s grandmother was her source of "protection and purpose," and she helped her into becoming who she is in America. Both the protagonists in the story were from precarious families and they faced discrimination from the society. Another difference between the family lives of the protagonist is that in The Boy Kings of Texas Martinez was involved in drugs and alcohol, on the other hand, the protagonist in My Beloved World Sonia, never used drugs, all she did was to strive to become on top, despite the challenges of

health.
Both books are about the lives of immigrant children who had to struggle between cultures in order to become Americans.

The protagonist both struggled in their childhood. In addition, both protagonists grew up in families with parents, who were not keen about their children’s life, for instance, Sonia’s parents used to fight all the time, while Martinez parents were uncaring and abusive. Sonia’s relationship with her mother was not that good and this applies to Martinez too. Both protagonists came in terms with their upbringing and had to work hard to change their life situations. In both stories, the theme of poverty is evident in both the

families.
In essence, The Boy Kings of Texas and My Beloved World are great memoirs which teach students a lot about immigrants’ life in the United States. Te book talks about the elite groups in the country and how children from precarious families have to struggle between social classes and cultures in order to make it in the American dream. My Beloved World teaches us that, it is only hard work that can take us to the top. On the other hand, The Boy Kings of Texas teaches us that, we should not despise where we come from, let us appreciate what life gives us because, even though Martinez despised where he was from and ran away, he still came back and accepted his upbringing, although as a reformed individual.