When I was Puerto Rican
*****Prologue*****
My critique so far on the novel When I was Puerto Rican by author Esmeralda Santiago, is that this is a marvelous book.To be honest at first when Ms. Mayo told us to read this book I felt like it was going to be like the other sullen and oh-so-dull books we read in English. As I opened the book, I flipped the pages to the prologue in which I found a short story about how to eat a guava. In this story it opened up my eyes to the great use of literary devices such as simile and metaphor. As I continued to read about how to eat a guava I felt very hungry due to the fact that the descriptions written by Santiago were so precise. For example--" when you bite into a ripe guava, your teeth must grip the bumpy surface and sink into the thick edible skin without hittin the center". It makes you feel like you need to experience the ripeness of that guava, The literature explains how fresh it is by explaining about the rainfall and plentiful nights. By the sixth paragraph you finally realize that the guava is sour and hard, but to me I feel like it really doesn't matter because I am entised by the fact that they continue on in the same fluent use of adjectives that still get you going.
*****
Chapter 1
Jibara
In this chapter I realized that Negi lived the life like many normal Puerto Rican natives. She goes through this chapter asking questions that basically are normal for any young child. In this novel she back talks her mother and gets the knuckle from her mother. Whenever Santiago uses a spanish word she would put in italics, I feel the signficance of her using the font device of italics are that she wants us to know and understand (basically familiarize oursleves) the words they speak. She wants us to use the words as our own. In this chapter she learns how the use of the word jibara is not a good word. She learns that being the first daughter is tough.
Chapter 2
Fighting Naked
In this chapter many more problems were faced in the Marin house. Her parents started arguing more and her father from the novel left them alot. she finally realizes that she has a sister named Margi that is about a year older than her, from her father's previous girlfiend and also she notices the hatred her mother has for Margi's mother. She is faced with the fact that her half sister moves to New York and that she would not be able to see her. As I read through the story, the problems faced between the mother and the father become more harsher and more greater causing the family pain
In the beginning of this chapter, she starts off with the problems that occur in the Marin household between Mami and Papi. Papi becomes more distant from the family and to me it seems that he is not being a good father because, he just had a son and he is not there for his daughters and his wife, who really loves him so much. Santiago creates a natural surrounding for those who don't know the feeling to be in Puerto Rico. Santiago lets us know about how she learned about men and how they can go around being cruel to the women they had at home. In the italics the word "sinverguenza" which meant that men had no shame and indulged in behavior that never failed to suprise women but caused them much suffering. I can relate to the fact that women in Puerto Rico would call their men this, because in our country when situations happen that occur with women being left by men, we say that Men are dogs. In the story Santiago claims that the sins of all men are women. In the story the italic word is "puta". Those kind of girls were gold-diggers and lived with the cheating husband or boyfriend. These women enhanced their images by wearing open cut shirts which exposed their breasts, high heels to bring out their calves, jewlery and perfume..
On page 32 she talks about the theme of the chapter--FIGHTING-- She fights with her sisters and she ends up fighting in school. Santiago talks about the little immature reasons why she got into her house fights. She feels like her school fights were much more different entirely. I understand because she says that "If you looked at someone the wrong way they might beat you up. if you were too eager to answer the teacher's questions you might get beat up. If you rubbed shoulders with the wrong kids you would get beat up. If you mentioned someones mother at the wrong time or in a certain tone of voice you would get beat up etc..." She later on in the paragraph describes in her paragraph about how she stripped into her underwear and fought.
Chapter 3
Someone is Coming to Take your Lap
In this Chapter, Santiago starts off with how whenever her mother is fed up she goes to Santurce. She also includes in the second paragraph that her grandmother was one of fiften children. In which I feel probably is foreshadowing for what is to happen inthe future in this story. She moves to Santurce with her family and experiences being taken out of the first grade and put into a new school. She also experiences the new city. her mother gives her a warning that the city is different, and that there are many mischevious people, so she would have to becareful where you go and who you talk to. I can relate because when I first came to the US those were the same words that were told to me.
Santiago also uses description to tell us about her wanting and envious nature on page 38-39. She discusses about how people lived in private homes and most of all she discusses about the Catholic School children. In which she described as very neat and cleaner than anyone she'd ever seen. She also says that she envies them because of the order of their lives, the precision that they marched with no prodding or harsh glances...., she also lets us experience her curious wondering nature of her childhood.She says" I wondered what their lives were like, how many sisters and brothers they had, if they slept in their own beds etc..."
She also experiences the feeling of being called a "jibara" at her new school. Santiago claims that she was already singled out in school for her wildness, her loud voice and large gestures. She was reciting a poem and some kids chirped out the word jibara. I can relate because when I came from Great Britain I used to have a terrible accent, people used to call me a tea biscuit. It hurt especially because I was the last one to find out.
On page 55 it starts off with "someone is going to take your lap, freckles" basically the theme of the chapter., negi has a baby sister at the end of the chapter.
|
