Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Two Words
The short story “Two Words” by Isabel Allende is a tale about a girl who went by the name of Belisa Crepusculario. She had extreme desire to be the best at selling words, since the first time she saw words in the sports section of the newspaper. Belisa learned to read from a priest for 20 pesos and read the dictionary until she knew it cold. She went from the top of blistering cold mountains to scorching hot coasts selling her words in markets and fairs. Belisa’s words became popular fast and everyone knew who she was. People waited for her from year to year to hear her words.
The main focus in this story is on the two words that she said to El Mulato that cursed him. This shows that you can’t be so quick to judge someone. The conflict in the story is man vs. man because it is generally a battle between Belisa and El Mulato and in the end Belisa won the battle by cursing El Mulato making him unable to run for president.
This short story “Two Words” is written in an omniscient narrative point of view, in other words a person is telling a story about something that happened to someone else. The main character in this short story is Belisa Crepusculario. Belisa is a round character because in the beginning of the story Belisa was a poor nobody. She was born into a poor family until she decided to set out across the plains toward the sea. When she made it across she found on the ground a newspaper and decided that she wanted to sell words, which changed her ...
The trial was used to paint Abina as a complainer since there were other young girls who worked for Quamina Eddoo who did not report him or his sister. Another way Abina’s was silenced was the fact that her perspective was not recorded. Even though the court case was documented by an observer in the court, Abina’s personal narrative was not. It is probable to assume that Abina was illiterate since she was a slave from a young age and would not have been provided the opportunity of education. Due to this fact, the audience is unaware if the represented story of Abina is an accurate depiction of her story. The documented court hearing provides the reader with a strong sense of who the powerful men are in the room since the dialog was dominated by the men. Another reason why Abina’s story was quieted was because of her
... racial inequality. Macaria never succumbs to this inequality between men or race, but Marcela is the sacrifice of both. Tony succumbs to the stereotype of a race-induced machismo, becoming the villain among the Anglos of Texas and the hero among the Mexican women in his barrio by redeeming their collective virtue.
“Se Habla Español,” is written by a Latin author, Tanya Barrientos; and Amy Tan, a Chinese author, wrote “Mother Tongue”. In both literate narratives the authors write about their experiences with language and how it impacted their lives. In This essay we will be discussing the similarities as well as the differences in the stories and the authors of “Se Habla Español” and “Mother Tongue”. We will discuss how both authors use a play on words in their titles, how language has impacted their lives, how struggling with language has made them feel emotionally, and how both authors dealt with these issues.
With the relationship between Beli and La Inca, it would have been easy to write the relationship without any major issues. La Inca saved Beli from a terrible life and provided her with every resource Beli needed to succeed. Even with the cards in their favor, they still had a rocky relationship. Beli disobeyed La Inca often, especially when it came to boys, and really put a damper on their relationship. With all of the complexity that came with their relationship, it was obvious that she still loved her mother because she sent her children to spend time with La Inca, know that La Inca would help them in all the ways that La Inca helped Beli. The trials that Beli faced with La Inca bled into her relationship with Lola. Lola turned out to be very similar to Beli, falling in love with a guys who was not good for her and disobeying her mother. Their issues stemmed from the differences in where they were raised and the time in which they were raised. Beli was raised in the Dominican Republic in a time that was very difficult. Beli’s history of abuse combined with being raised in the DR, prevented her from being the mother Lola wanted. Junot Diaz used the struggles caused by history and culture to write complex mother/daughter
She was not a master of style, plot development or characterization, but the intensity of feeling and aspiration are evident in her narratives that overrides her imperfections. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deeply disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact. Esperanza, a Chicano with three sisters and one brother, has had a dream of having her own things since she was ten years old.
The theme that has been attached to this story is directly relevant to it as depicted by the anonymous letters which the main character is busy writing secretly based on gossip and distributing them to the different houses. Considering that people have an impression of her being a good woman who is quiet and peaceful, it becomes completely unbecoming that she instead engages in very abnormal behavior. What makes it even more terrible is the fact that she uses gossip as the premise for her to propagate her hate messages not only in a single household but across the many different households in the estate where she stays.
Rather, it criticizes this culture through its portrayal of women. The narrative is focused on a male and is told by a male, which reflects the male-centered society it is set in. However, when we compare how the narrator views these women to who they really are, the discrepancies act as a critique on the Dominican culture. Yunior, who represents the typical Dominican male, sees women as objects, conquests, when in fact their actions show their resistance to be categorized as such. Beli, whose childhood was filled with male domination by Trujillo and the family she worked for, attempts to gain power through sexuality, the avenue the culture pushes women toward. This backfires, creating a critique of the limited opportunities available for women. La Inca portrays a different side to this, working quietly but in ways that are not socially acceptable through self-employment. Society attempts to cage these women, but they continue to fight against it. Diaz, in an interview, quoted James Baldwin, stating, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced" (Fassler). He exhibits the misogyny in the system but does not support it, rather critiques it through strong female characters. By drawing attention to the problem, the novel advocates for change. Diaz writes, at the end of part 1, “Nothing more exhilarating… than saving yourself by the simple act of waking”
The author of this short story, Sandra Cisneros used this myth to make herself different from other American writers. She used ideas from things and stories she heard growing up as a Mexican-American woman, living in a house full of boys that got all of the attention (Mathias). Cisneros also grew up in the 19...
Overall, in Julia Alvarez’s “Bilingual Sestina” the repetition sheds light on the author’s situation and the difficulties she faces when assimilating into a new culture. Accustomed to Spanish since her childhood, the language evokes an inviting and comforting feeling for her as it also articulates nostalgic memories. On the other hand, she struggles and faces several conflictions with English as she does not currently have memories or passions that are connected with the English culture. By the end of the poem, the author resignedly admits that she wishes to familiarize herself with English and form new memories that will help make the language significant for her. Although it will not be simple for her native tongue in Spanish to fully comprehend English, it is important that we do not let the nature of words limit us and our perceptions.
Beli’s impulses allow her to ignore the fact that falling atomically in love with the Gangster, a man she meets in a luxurious nightclub, is wrong. In a world where no one gives her such feeling, the Gangster makes Beli feel beautiful. But, the Gangster is a pimp and exploits women, which shows the degradation of women such as Beli. The Trujillo system in the Dominican Republic, under which the Cabaral’s are associated with, exploits women and the Gangster, just like Trujillo did exactly that. This path of life that Beli embarks on is the wrong choice because it is plagued with the fukú. She sees the Gangster as an escape out of her current life because he is extremely rich. The Gangster promises her a house in Miami with as many bedrooms as she wants. Beli is naïve and does not realize that the Gangster cannot help her escape her life that she is unhappy with. Instead all the Gangster can bring to Beli is bad luck. The Gangster ends up being married to Trujillo’s sister, who is extremely cruel and lives up to the name of Trujillo. The Gangster’s wife has Beli beaten until she almost dies. Beli is vulnerable because the Gangster has power over her; she truly believes that he is an escape from her Dominican world. All along La Inca sees otherwise and tells Beli that she is crazy. La Inca also implies that a man cannot save her, but Beli continues to make
The two old men buying there way out of there own guilt making Susana pay for there own mistake, not having any say towards her own rights. Hence making, “Her sudden position, a Latina with power, a Chicana with money, thrust her into many social spotlights” (Chacón 193). Shows how many people from the community viewed her after marrying her rich husband, she no longer has that power among others. She lost her place in society by the empowerment of the two men. They paid people to say untruthful things to the press such as, “[…] referring to the case as an attempted rape and called it a “sex scandal” (Chacón 197). By the men using there power as a form of injustice, that to this day is viewed as a male dominated way of unfairness. Therefore I believe that superiority does not change the choices one makes, but makes them stay with you.
In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At ...
“Belisa Crepusculario had been born into a family so poor they did not even have names to give their children. She came into the world and grew up in an inhospitable land where some years the rains became avalanches of water that bore everything away before them and others when not a drop fell from the sky and the sun swelled to fill the horizon and the world became a desert. Until she was twelve, Belisa had no occupation or virtue other than having withstood hunger and the exhaustion of centuries” (10).
Rivas-Rojas, Raquel. “FABULAS DE ARRAIGO VICARIO EN LA NARRATIVA DE JULIA ALVAREZ. (Spanish).” Canadian Journal Of Latin American & Caribbean Studies 33.66 (2008): 157-169. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
I believe the conflict in the story is an internal one. I think it is the conflict between the old woman's will power and Mother Nature. She encounters many obstacles that would influence most people to give up but she has motivation to get her task done. These encounters include a bush catching onto her dress, a scarecrow frightening her and discouragement from a white man. She also had to climb hills, cross streams and crawl under barbed wire fences which is certainly not considered an easy task for an elderly woman.. If I was forced to deal with these obstacles I know that I would most likely have turned around but her will power was too strong to let Mother Nature win.