The Dream

Danny Santiago’s “The Somebody” is a short story about a young man by the name of Chato de Shamrock from the Eastside of old Los Angeles, who quits school and wants to become a famous writer. He writes on buildings, fences and sidewalks to receive attention and his dream is to become famous in L.A.. Santiago shines a light on everyday struggles and hardships in the less fortunate parts of world, such as ghettos and slums.

The story is written from the first person perspective of Chato, so it is easier for us to step into his shoes and we are being led through the hardships of the young man’s tale as he runs from the Sierra Street gang and turns his back on people that want to help him. The reason why Chato wants to be famous in L.A. is because he has felt lonely ever since his gang broke up and the members moved away. He also feels like he receives a lack of attention and is disregard at home. He even adopted the pseudonym last name ‘Shamrock’ in order not to be traced back to his family. Chato’s loneliness forces him to depend only on himself and leads to his determination to start fresh.

It is a very interesting short story which instantly gripped my attention and I found it very interesting. I believe teenagers would like this short story because it makes them appreciate the positive things in their life, it really is an eye-opening story. It is well written and one immediately feels drawn into it.

Feel free to leave a comment!

The Life as a Unfashionable Guy

The Life as a Unfashionable Guy

Gary Soto’s “The Jacket” is a short story about a young boy who deals with life as a not very fashionable guy. The reader accompanies the boy in a period of his life.

The mother of the boy buys him a new unfashionable jacket. Because of that nobody likes him but he has to wear it for three years. He hopes so much that he will get a new one when it is broken but his mother has no money to buy a new one.

The story is written in the first-person perspective and this, I think, makes the story easy to understand because then you can always follow his point of view. The plot is rather boring and chronological sequenced. There is no flashback and no climax in the story. The only thing you know about the setting is that the story takes place in the USA. But it is not necessary to know that.

The main character is a boy, who is eleven or twelve years old. He is in the sixth grade. The reader doesn’t know his name. He is not one of the “cool” kids, because he is not as fashionable as the other students. The boy´s character isn´t dynamic because he doesn´t change through the story.

All you know about the mother is that she has a bad taste in clothes, buys cheap clothes and always has steamed-up glasses because she cooks very often.

The multicultural aspect is that the author, Gary Soto, is from Mexico. He worked at a field when he was young and when his father died his family had struggle to find work. He immigrated to America to study.

All in all, the short story is well written but a little bit boring and the characters are flat. However, the story is easy to read and you understand the theme the first time you read it. I wouldn’t recommend the story because in my opinion it is too boring.

These are just my thoughts. What do you think about the story?

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Together  we are less excited!                                                                              

There are two students waiting to audition for the Talent Show. One is an Asian  girl, the other is a white boy. One is tuning a violin and the other has got a paper containing notes for a stand-up comedy act. Guess, which one is which?

The short story "Talent Show" by Cherry Cheva, is about an Asian girl and a white boy who were waiting to audition for the Talent Show at their school. Both were very nervous about their performances. It's surprising that the Asian girl has got the notes for the stand-up comedy act and the white boy is playing the violin because the stereotype of many people is that Asian children are usually playing the violin. They have not talked to each other but the boy thinks that the girl is really cute.

The main characters in this story are Gretchen, the Asian girl, and Josh, the white boy. Both characters are static and round. The tale is told by one of the characters in the story, so the story is written in first-person perspective. The author might have taken this point of view because if a character tells the story it's more authentic. Josh is the protagonist in his short story. We also know the thoughts and feelings of Josh and we don't know the thoughts and feelings of Gretchen. We do not know the setting of the story but we know that the Talent Show takes place at a high-school.

I liked the main characters in the story. They were sympathetic and also humorous. The short story was easy to read and interesting. However, I also think that this story would be more suitable for children in the age of twelve to fourteen because it is very easy to understand the story and younger children might be more interested in this short story than older children.

These are just my thoughts of the story, what are yours? You can leave your thoughts in a comment.

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In the Heart of the Rotting Slum

Spiro Athanas “A Bag of Oranges” is a short story about a young Greek boy who deals with being a foreigner. The reader learns about the boy’s daily routine.

Together with his father Stavro the boy named Nikos buys some things including a bag of oranges at a market. They go home by bus and meet the rest of the family so that the reader gets to know something about their family life. In the end something surprising happens to the father.

Since the story is written in third-person limited perspective everything that happens unexpectedly for the boy also happens unexpectedly for the reader. This causes - even though just light - suspense. The plot is rather boring and chronologically sequenced. There’s one flashback in the short story: on the seventh page Nikos tells about “Aunt” Aphrodite, who is a fortune teller. Aphrodite herself is a little bit lost in the story. She forecasts that something bad will happen and it actually does in the end of the story but the author dedicates her only a few sentences. The setting doesn’t play an important role; the city in which the story takes place could be any city in the world except a Greek city obviously because the Greek family is foreign in this country.

Nikos, the main character, is ten years old. He is innocent, shy and naive, which is appropriate for his age. This is shown for example by the way he describes the market as “a magic farm indomitably growing and prospering in the heart of the rotting slum.” The boy’s character is very dynamic and his thoughts and feelings change a lot according to the change in the story. At first, he tells the reader that he is proud of his father but as the father acts in an embarrassing way in the bus when he tries to pick up the oranges Nikos had lost before and the people in the bus laugh at them he feels ashamed and says that he hates him. But later he realizes how stupid it was of him to say this and he explains how much he loves his father no matter what other people think of him.

Stavro is placid and proud of his nation. The way he greets his daughter when he comes home and how he treats his son shows that he is a loving father.

All in all, the short story is well written and the characters are round. However, the story itself is a bit confusing because you can’t really figure out the main theme when reading it for the first time. Do you share my opinion?

Stranger or part of them?

I‘ve recently read a story by Gish Jen which I‘d like to present to you. “In the American Society“ is a short story about a Chinese first and second generation immigrant family in the US. The father doesn‘t believe in assimilating into the local society, the mother however tries to persuade him to let the family do so and become the member of a country club. The plot shows the difficulties of being accepted and how to interact with other foreigners. 

Callie, the son, is a static, rather flat character. We don‘t know a lot about him. Mona, his sister, encourages her mother to stand up against her husband‘s strict morals. She is a bright, optimistic girl, who is bursting with energy. His father, who is the main character, is a round character. During the story he changes a lot, but some of his qualities are still the same. At the beginning he is a generous, good-natured person, but then he alters to an ingrate, lacy employer. He is a bit patriarchal and patriotic. For him, there is nothing worse than betrayal. But we also see, how he tries to support Cedric and Booker, his two illegal workers. The mother is browbeaten and demonstrates a lot of respect for her husband. She cares about what people might think of them as immigrants. In addition, she really wants to be accepted as a member in society. 

The story is written in first person, from the point of view of the son who acts as an observer. It shows that they suffer from social marginalization and have to endure a lot of discrimination. The mother is even sometimes scared of the deportation officers. I think the author chose this point of view, because Callie describes everything objectively. He has his own opinions about his father‘s decisions. 

The story is chronologically sequenced. The climax is the last scene, where the family goes to the party of a member of the country club. It ends as a total disaster. Location and time period are important for us to understand the spirit of the age. Back then nationalism and racism were even more widespread than now. 

Teenagers might like the story, because they can see, how time has changed. In former times it was almost impossible to be accepted, when you were no native American. Although I‘m very interested in this theme, I wouldn‘t recommend Gish Jen‘s story. It is neither exciting, nor elaborated. I think there is nothing special about it. If you disagree or can think of anything else I haven‘t mentioned, feel free to comment. 

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Would you defend a homosexual?

Would you defend a homosexual?

The story “Brotherly Love” is about a Mexican family. The protagonist is called Luis. Other characters are his brother Bernie, his sister Rosalinda and their father.
One day, Luis talks to his sister about Bernie, that he is worried that he might be gay, because he likes to go shopping plus loves to cook and bake. Their father is very religious and once yells at Bernie, because he thinks he is homosexual. But Bernie defends himself and hence also Luis, who is gay, by saying that there is nothing strange about it and that God loves everyone. Although he is not gay, he knows, as well as Rosalinda does, that Luis secretly likes boys. The teenagers know that their father is against those kinds of love, but Bernie and Rosalinda protect Luis and do not tell anyone about his secret. 

The story takes place in Mount Carmel, Mexico, in the 21th century. The family is very religious and visits the church every Sunday morning. It is told from the first person point of view, because in the first sentence it says: “The day I talked to my sister started out to be an ordinary Sunday.” And then it continues like this. It is written by the author Francisco X. Stork, but narrated by the character “Luis”. The climax of the story is when Luis’ sister explains that Bernie was defending Luis and not himself. With this she tells him that they knew about his secret.
I think the message of the story is that nobody should judge someone just because he is not like you or does not like the same things as you do and that human-beings or especially siblings should help each other when someone is in a difficult situation and does not know how to deal with it. 

I think the story is quite cool. It is not very difficult to understand and you easily understand the message of it even without knowing every single word.
I suppose teenagers would like this story because surely there are some out there who could identify themselves with Luis. Maybe they are in a similar situation and their parents were also not very pleased when they found out that their son or daughter preferred his or her sex more than the other one.  If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.

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