Marina Siles
English 1109 at 10:30, M-W
September 23, 2020
Response Exercise – Marina Siles
The chapter I felt most connected to was Chanclas. Mainly because I have felt the same way Esperanza did. Especially the scene of her and her Uncle Nacho on the dance floor. More specifically, Esperanza feels embarrassed because of her shoes. Even though she has on a new pretty dress she still ridicules herself based on how ugly she thinks her feet are. Of course, when anyone feels self-conscious, they are not going to want to go out to have more people see whatever it is they are embarrassed of. For her it was her shoes. but her Uncle refuses and is persistent with getting her to dance. The part I felt I connected to the most was when Esperanza said, “My feet swell big and heavy like plungers, but I dragged them across the linoleum floor straight center where Uncle wants to show off the new dance we learned. And Uncle spins me, and my skinny arms bend the way he taught me, and my mother watches, and my little cousins watch, and the boy who is my cousin by first communion watches, and everyone says, wow, who are those two who dance like in the movies, until I forget that I am wearing only ordinary shoes, brown and white, the kind my mother buys each year for school.“ (Cisneros 47).
In my own life, I have been going to big family party, we celebrated anything we could. That might just be the Hispanic culture, but I know there have been countless times where at the parties I went to I felt awkward in what I was wearing because it was never what I liked but my Uncle never failed to make sure that I got out to dance, even if I refused and was negative about it. Knowing everyone in my family was watching me, I always had a great time once I was out there. If it weren’t for my Uncle, I definitely would not have gone out on the floor willingly.
These rings were given to me by my parents when I was 13(the small ring) and when I was 15(the big ring). Each has my birthstone, Amethyst, but deeper than that in Hispanic/Latin cultures I would celebrate these age milestones with grand parties. However, I did not have those grand parties because they were never my thing and I felt that I did not know my culture well enough to properly have one. In response my parents gave me these rings. I hold them close to me because even though it wasn’t what my family wanted me to do, they made sure that I felt special on those days that are most important to us and that these rings are only worn on important days.
I relate to what you said in this exercise a lot! Having big parties aren't in our culture which I think is amazing in the hispanic culture but, my family just loves to get together and party all day and night. Your rings in the photos look beautiful and seem like they mean a lot to your family!
ReplyDeleteI’m not really into parties. If it was with people that are close to me and know me very well, I would have a great time. But I don’t want it to be grand and over the top, it makes me uncomfortable. If I was thrown into a party or event with a bunch of people that I don’t know, I would start to get uncomfortable very quickly and leave.
ReplyDeleteI can also connect to the large family gatherings. However mine family is only very close on my fathers side. So when we get together with my fathers side of the family I always like to catch up with cousins and aunts and uncles. However on my mothers side we are distant with all of them living out of state. Although we do go and visit her family reunion every other year if we can just to be nice. I am glad to see that someone else has a close family and wish that we had dances but maybe now that I think about it the dances may not have been so good. Anyhow the rings that you have received are awesome. Really like the amethyst. My birthstone is Garnet which is pretty good I just do not think red suits me but anyhow really cool gifts I am sure they mean a lot to you.
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