Journal 3 Richard

Cisneros Response

My favorite chapter in this book is Louie, his cousin & his other cousin. in this chapter one of Louies cousins came into the neighborhood driving a big yellow Cadillac with white walls. After honking a few times a lot of people ran to look at the exotic car. Amazed everyone asked if they could go for a ride. Esperanza, Louie and all his sisters crammed into the car and drove around the neighborhood. As they were driving they suddenly heard sirens in the distance, getting louder and louder. Louies cousin stops the car and tells everyone to get out of the car. As soon as they all got out the police came around the corner chasing after the Cadillac. Due to the alleys being to skinny Louies cousin crashes into a light pole. He was then handcuffed and put in the back seat of a cop car while everyone waved goodbye.

One of the main themes in this chapter is to stay out of crime. When living in a bad neighborhood it is very easy to get pulled into crime. Especially when living the low income lifestyle. It doesn't give teens much to loose. In this chapter the writing is at its best when the author describes the interior of the Cadillac. Cisneros writes "The seats were big and soft like a sofa." What we don't realize is that for these kids seeing an exotic car like that and being able to go for a drive is a dream come true for them. They all know that their parents would never be able to afford something like that. Which is why they were astonished to see the vehicle.

Story of a Local Role Model

When I was in middle school I met Ethan. He was a big plus sized fellow like me and we had many classes together. We also both played the same position in football. Ethan had a very competitive personality. Sometimes he made the simplest things into a competition without you even knowing it. For example during lunch he always tried to be the first to finish his food and wouldn't even say a word about it. I once called him out about it and he pretended like he had no idea what I was talking about. But after a while all of our friends started to notice it.

It got to the point where it was irritating me every test, assignment, sprint, and practice he had to be the best. Eventually I got fed up with it and I did everything I could to beat him. I started doing all my homework and studied for tests, and I was always a few points behind or a few ahead of him. I noticed that he started trying harder because he noticed I was getting just as good as him. Even in football I made sure I always beat him in sprints no matter how tired was. It got to the point where he would go on the scout team and line up rite over me just to see who is stronger and faster off the ball.

Realizing later on that competing in everything wasn't doing any good. We stopped being friends and teammates and became opponents. I knew there was nothing I could do about it, that's just his personality. I did learn a lot from him because I achieved many things and improved in many ways. But I also realized that making everything a competition isn't the best thing to do. But competing and trying to be the best in things that are important to you, will make you achieve great things.