This is a personal essay reflecting incidents in the life of author Julia Alvarez. On the one hand, it examines the important relationship between name and identity in Hispanic culture. On the other, it highlights the desire for migrants, especially children, to ‘fit in’ with an anglicized name that is easily pronounced. Finally, we have her mother’s wisdom in saying that it doesn’t matter, quoting the English idiom A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. In the final paragraph, the girl wonders what name she will go by when she is well-known. We now know the answer! More…
Dead End
The protagonist of this coming of age story by Rudolfo Anaya faces a difficult decision: to honor a promise made to her dying mother, or risk ending a budding romance with the most sought after boy in school. Whichever choice she makes is likely to lead to a “dead end” of sorts. She comes close to a decision while ‘making out’ with the boy in his car. Fortunately, a childhood memory and plaintive sob from a passing bag lady help clear her mind. Themes: determination, family responsibility, dreams (a better future vs. ‘fitting in’ with the gang), sexuality, life choices More…
My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn
Many of Sandra Cisneros’s stories are vignettes (narrative descriptions without a plot). This one provides a snapshot of a young girl’s relationship with her friend Lucy. The two girls identify as Chicanos (USA born Mexican-Americans). Cisneros makes extensive use of Chicano dialect and fragmented sentences to create a realistic atmosphere. The narrator’s tone (feisty) is also typical of Chicano youth. The main theme is, of course, friendship. However, a closer read will reveal deeper themes and emotions beneath the narrator’s bravado. These include ‘aloneness’ (the wish for a large, close family like Lucy’s) and envy for Lucy’s freedom and independence. More…
Swaddling Clothes
The major theme of Yukio Mishima’s Swaddling Clothes is the loss of traditional Japanese values to Western modernization. Other themes include class, morality, gender roles, compassion, fear, and sacrifice/atonement. The callous swaddling of an illegitimate baby in newspaper and protagonist Toshiko’s conviction that it is destined to grow up a poverty-stricken criminal underlines Japan’s rigid class structure. Her husband’s heartless description of the delivery demeans women who contravene social norms. When Toshiko does this (by taking a walk alone at night to contemplate her own child’s future and unsatisfying Western lifestyle), she comes face to face with her prophesy. More…
Bigfoot Cinderrrrella
In a twist on the famous fairytale, this story from Tony Johnson is about big, hairy and very smelly Bigfoot girl. The Bigfoot prince is holding a fun-fest. A magic grizzly bear helps the girl get ready. He makes her fur especially dirty and smelly, and gives her special wooden shoes to wear. She wins the prince’s heart but (of course!) loses a shoe when she runs off early to be home in time. Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. She is the only girl in the forest with feet big enough to fit the shoe. More…