Analysis Of Before We Were Free By Julia Alvarez

In the book Alvarez informs us that this takes place during Trujillo 's reign over the Dominican Republic in the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Throughout history dictators have risen and fallen all across the world. Many have been seen as evil, and sometimes good to others, but no matter what a persons view tend to be there are some who even consider them god. Due to a dictators extensive powers and complete control over every aspect of a persons life this is what comes to be. Trujillo is just the same, at first his true motives were questioned and it wasn’t apparent to all what he really was. As the Mirabel sisters grow up it becomes clear that Trujillo is in control of more of their lives than it may seemed. Trujillo leads a complete authoritarian rule over the Dominican Republic with spies everywhere, this can suggest that he trying to assume the role of a terrible god, who is always watching and ready to punish. While all

Esperanza is the protagonist of the story. She is very wealthy and gets everything she wants. She struggles through her father’s death and moving to California. Throughout the story she becomes very mature, determined, and a hard worker. She really shocked me because she was a very spoiled princess who became a very strong migrant worker. Ramona Ortega also known as Mama is Esperanza’s mother. They are always together and she helped Esperanza stay strong. Throughout the story she is very strong but becomes very ill and depressed. Miguel was Esperanza’s best friends when they were little kids. He is the child of two servants that work for the family. He wants to become a mechanic and is very determined to reach that goal. They still look after eachother, even though they aren’t very close due to their social status. In the end he is able to bring back Abuelita back from Mexico. Hortensia was a servant that took care of their family. She always looked after Esperanza and was almost like a second mother. She was a Zapotec Indian. She was Alfonso’s wife and the mother of Miguel. Alfonso was a field worker and a very close friend to Papa. He loved the land and took care of the rose garden. He is the main person who helped everyone get to California. Isabel is the daughter of Juan and Josefina. She is only 9 years old but can clean, do laundry, and change diapers. She was the one who taught Esperanza how to do housework. She becomes very close friends with Esperanza. Isabel is the only one who goes to school to learn to read, write, and speak

Esperanza and her mother made the choice to leave Mexico and go to California to work and escape Tio Luis, which I believe to be a good decision. Before going, Esperanza was spoiled, rich, and quite full of herself, living in a high social class family, and in general thought of herself better than others. At first, she was against leaving everything she knew and loved, but in the end, found herself liking California. Esperanza made new friends, in particular, Isabel, who taught her many things, even though she was younger. She taught her how to appreciate what she had, and how to get a job done. She taught her how to deal with the fact that

She was born in Chicago, Illinois. Cisneros grew up in a Latino family around the 1950s and 1960s. She had a Mexican father and Chicano mother. Cisneros was encouraged by her mother to read and was not insisted with spending all of her time performing classic “women’s work”. Cisneros welcomes her culture with open arms, but acknowledges the unjustness between the genders within. Having experience growing up in a poor neighborhood in a working class family while facing the difficulties created by racism, sexism, and her status, Esperanza longed to leave the barrio. Later, she finds her capability to succeed individually and find a “home with herself”; she worked to recreate some Chicano stereotypes for her community. Cisneros didn’t want to

Lots of things can change when era changes except gender roles but after read this story, gender roles are changing distinctly than others. Even though it has changed a lot now, woman still has difficulty with when they get a job so we must strive until the equality of man and woman is evenly distributed. Esperanza make effort to improve her life and cultivate own self but not make effort to gender equality. She has interest in gender role but not that much so she think about it but not to act. From this essay, I have gave examples of how people might react to the idea about gender roles. However, we need to realize that women should take action for themselves instead of following

The book Esperanza Rising, by Pam Munoz Ryan, gives readers a reason to never be afraid of starting over. The main character named Esperanza, is faced with several challenging situations as a young girl. These challenging events are life changing at times, which forces her to make adult decisions at young age. The life Esperanza is forced to live is unfortunately a reality to many Mexican families that made the move to the United States in search of the American Dream. Events faced by Esperanza’s family alongside workers of the El Rancho de las Rosas, which Esperanza’s family owned, forces Esperanza to change into a mature young teenage female. Munoz Ryan shows Esperanza’s character change by challenges she is faced with. The outcome of these events show growth within her young life by the emotions Esperanza expresses. Throughout the book Munoz Ryan uses symbolism to show growth and change within all characters. However; it is obvious to see the symbolic aspects the author provides related to Esperanza’s changes. The author faces Esperanza with different events to help remind her of a once wealthy life along with her current immigrant life style. As a whole many factors influence Esperanza's change. In the onset of Esperanza Rising, Esperanza is a wealthy, spoiled and dependent eight year old child, due to life changing events, she matures into an independent and mature teenage female.

In conclusion, we know that Esperanza’s negativity of herself begins to slowly change as she slowly experience what accepting means and how she began to accept where she was from . Throughout this book, Cisnero showed us accepting is an important part of growing in life as well as determining the true you. In the beginning she hated her life always wanted to escape out of Mango Street versus the end she says she is going to come back. From the beginning to the end, Esperanza finally accepted where she was from and how Mango Street has developed who she became

This relates to the theme of the struggle for self definition, because at first Esperanza was under the impression she could change a man, but as she’s exposed to these horrible encounters she comes to the conclusion that boys and girls live in different worlds.

In the short story “Liberty” by Julia Alvarez, the author uses figurative language to create tone of mystery and fear. In the fourth paragraph, the author writes how they were afraid; for example, when the narrator states, “On their faces when they talked of leaving there was a scared look I also couldn’t understand,” the reader is left wondering why they are so fearful. The author does this to help set the tone and mood of the story. The author also uses the characters to show the tone of the story. Mami is frightened and mean, while Papi is brave

Esperanza is able to look at her great grandmother and realize what she does not want to become, but also she realizes what she does want: to become a strong, independent woman.

The first challenge Esperanza faced as an immigrant was Marta and her friends trying to get workers to go on a strike. “What about us?” said Esperanza, her eyes riveted on the strikers and shoved them back toward the houses.”(p.g 205) The guards were trying to stop the strikers, because they did not like the fact that they were trying to invade their camps. Then Marta stomps back of toward camp and Esperanza asks.”Why is she so angry?”(p.g 133) She is mad because she wants to go on a strike because she does not like their living and working conditions. This is just one of the many problems Esperanza faced as an immigrant.

Next is Marin; she is a beautiful green-eyed Puerto Rican woman. She sells Avon products and babysits to make a living. Her family lives in Puerto Rico and she’s living with her cousin, saving money for when she goes back to Puerto Rico. Alike Esperanza, Marin is hardworking; she desires a real job where you could wear nice clothing and look beautiful. Marin often relishes in singing and dancing and dreams of getting married to a wealthy gentleman that will take her to a large house far away, altering her life forever, unlike Esperanza who doesn’t wish to be tied down in

One unique character in Julia Alvarez’s Before We Were Free is Mundo De La Torre, the narrator’s father. In the chaotic country of the Dominican Republic, people are rebelling against the dreaded dictator, Rafael Trujillo. Mundo is part of this resistance, and he gives his life away in an attempt to liberate his country. He uses his courage and intellect to achieve his goal and assassinate Trujillo. When he was not plotting against the government, he was also being a father of three children. He always wants the best for his family, and he will do anything to grant them a good life. Throughout the novel, it is conveyed that Mundo De La Torre is a static (one that does not undergo important change in the course of the story), and a round character (one that is complex and undergoes development), persisting with his hatred for Rafael Trujillo, and devoting his life to protect his family.

Likewise, another factor that assists in Trujillo’s persistent control of the Dominican Republic is his abuse of power. Rules are restrictions and too many rules lead to the entrapment of citizens. Julia Alvarez specifically utilizes the word “weakness” to portray the character trait that the majority of the citizens possess. In the word “weakness,” one thinks about not-strong and lack of courage. In essence, no one has the courage to stand up to Trujillo. For example, we see the common trait through the quote, “People who opened their big mouths didn’t live very long.”

Esperanza is a shy but a very bright girl. She dreams of the perfect home now, with beautiful flowers in their luscious garden and a room for everyone to live in comfortably all because of the unsatisfied face the nun made that one afternoon--when she moves to the house of Mango Street. She thinks it’s going to be a “grand house on a hill that will have a bedroom for everyone and at least three washrooms so when they took a bath they would not have to tell everybody.” (Cinceros 4) Reality is so different for her when her dream is shot down in a heartbeat when she