The book, When I Was Puerto Rican was definitely a great memoir because it was very well constructed and descriptive. This memoir was well constructed because it showed where the author, Esmeralda Santiago, was coming from and it was also very well descriptive.
First off, one example of how the author was showing where she came from was when Esmeralda’s family was changing out their floor. When Esmeralda’s family took out their floor it really showed me how she lived when she was a kid. For example, once the floors were taken out, it was just a dirt floor with many holes from all sorts of animals like scorpions. Esmeralda’s mom made them stick rocks in the holes to make sure no animals could come in the house. I thought that this showed the tough life she and her family had having to worry about scorpions digging through the ground into their home, while a lot of people in our country’s biggest problem is just trying to get their wifi or T.V. to work better.
Secondly, one other way this memoir was well constructed is because the author wrote this in a meaningful way. One example I thought that shows this is when Esmeralda and her dad were staying at her grandma’s. Later during their stay Esmeralda’s dad said he was going to see someone in San Juan, although Esmeralda knew he wasn’t coming back and got a little depressed. After Esmeralda thought about her father leaving and why he might of left on page 92 it says, “My eyes watered, my mouth filled with a salty taste, but I cried, Abuela would here me and think I didn’t want to be with her.”
Lastly, another reason why I thought this was a good memoir was because the author was very descriptive. One way I found this memoir descriptive was during a fight between her parents when they were going to bed. During this fight Esmeralda was explaining that she could hear every word perfectly clear and the creaks of the bed from her hammock she used as a bed. In addition one other way she was very descriptive was when she was explaining the type of women her mom doesn’t like who wear short skirts, short shirts, and wear high heels to pimp up their calves.
That is funny. I thought the exact opposite. You used some of the same ideas I did but you used them much differently. I liked the was you connected the story to today, when you say that were are concerned about WiFi... Good use of a quotation that supported your ideas. Good job.
ReplyDeleteYou do a good job incorporating Zinsser's criteria that a good memoir is well-constructed. Your other criteria (that it is descriptive and) doesn't exactly relate to Zinsser's argument. Try to be more precise as you argue why it's a good memoir given the piece we read by him. You say that the memoir shows where Santiago came from--be more precise and give more detail to show why that is meaningful and makes for a good memoir. You have some relevant evidence but can simply elaborate on it to be more persuasive.
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