Thursday, October 21, 2010

Journal 4-Papa Who Wakes Up Tired In The Dark

One of my favorite stories in The House On Mango Street is "Papa Who Wakes Up Tired In The Dark." This was probably one of the saddest Vignettes so far in the story. Esperanza has now experienced someone she knows death. She does not have a grandfather anymore and she is seeing her father suffer as well. The most important quote to me is, "My Papa, his thick hands and thick shoes, who wakes up tired in the dark, who combs his hair with water, drinks his coffee, and is gone before we wake, today is sitting on my bed." Papa's thick hands and thick shoes are symbols of his strenght. You can see Esperanzas father is a hard worker, he does what he can for his family. But, today was not a normal day he had to tell her that her grandfather had died. Esperanza had to see her father as not so much the strong person she knows. And since she is the oldest she has to carry the burden of telling her siblings, which could be a hard thing for anyone to do.

Esperanza has many factors in her life, some good and others not so good. A positive, is her family. Her family loves her and wants the best for her. Her Father, as shown, works hard for them. Another positive is she does not have bad friends, they could influince her in doing great things. Some of the negatives are the neighboorhood she lives in, most people are scared to go there. This neighboorhood could influence her in what she does in the future. Another is the things she has seen and experience. She has experienced the death of her grandfather and she knows of Geraldo who had died. I would say Esperanza is very observant girl, so its no surprise that she knows the things that are going on in her neighboorhood good and bad.

1 comment:

Ravina said...

I enjoyed reading your story and i agree with you...this is the saddest story so far.