Captain Torres: A Short Story

Josie Mendez-Negrete’s novel, Las Hijas de Juan: Daughters Betrayed, is a very disturbing tale about brutal domestic abuse and incest.  Negrete’s novel is an autobiography regarding experiences of incest in a working-class Mexican American family.  It is Josie Mendez-Negrete’s story of how she, her siblings, and her mother survived years of violence and sexual abuse at the hands of her father.  “Las Hijas de Juan" is told chronologically, from the time Mendez-Negrete was a child until she was a young adult trying, along with the rest of her family, to come to terms with her father 's brutal legacy. It is a upsetting story of abuse and shame compounded by cultural and linguistic isolation and a system of patriarchy that devalues the

On September 11, 2001 American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Center. William Rodriguez, a simple janitor, was considered a hero because he had played an important role in the 9/11 incident. He had helped many people evacuate the building for safety. He bravely led the firefighters up the building unlocking the doors, knowing that the building could have collapsed. He kept on going up the building helping people that needed his help, and as a result, he was able to help hundreds of people survive. Heroes don’t have to be super heroes, they are people who take risk and a lot of courage to help others.

While both the barber and Captain Torres may have shown a different level of courage in their actions, their decisiveness towards these actions also create a large contrast between them. The barber is very ambivalent, hesitant, and confused with his actions while Captain Torres is decisive, and portrayed with calmness and firmness. Right from the beginning, the barber shows his hesitation when “[he has] not put the sheet on [Torres]” (Téllez 343) in preparation for shaving him; “[he is] certainly flustered” (Téllez 343) in this situation. The barber continues to show his indecisiveness when he begins to realize “how [easy] it would be to kill [Torres]” (Téllez 345), but quickly retracts his thoughts because he believes that “no one deserves

We had been waiting for this trip for years. Every 5 years we go on a trip to someplace fun. When five years passed after our trip to disneyland we were all waiting to go on some other adventure. I had done this twice, but 2 things about our trip this year were special.

As I was about to walk in the barber shop, I suddenly remembered what my Lieutenant had to say to me, “don’t go in the shop, he’ll kill you, he’s a rebel”. While these interpretations have a chance of being valid, I continue to believe that killing isn’t an easy task due to the repercussions that come along with it. When I entered the barber shop, I could see an individual who was tall and was carrying a muscular build. At this point of time, the barber had not yet noticed me, so I took a few steps and made sure I was visible in his peripheral vision. Eventually, I was noticed and a few seconds later, conversation was initiated on how my beard is four days late a shave. After several minutes of discussion, I was indeed ready for my face to become hairless. He sat me down in his

with​ ​a​ ​specific​ ​choice​ ​of​ ​music​ ​or​ ​sound.​ ​Given​ ​the​ ​project,​ ​the​ ​“eerie”​ ​tone​ ​given​ ​by​ ​the

When we think about society there is often a stark contrast between the controversy projected in our media about the issues that our society faces and the mellow, safe view we have of our own smaller, more tangible ‘local’ society. This leads us to believe that our way of life is protected and our rights secured by that concept of society that has been fabricated and built upon during the course of our short lives. However, what if society were not what we perceive it to be, and the government chose to exercise its power in an oppressive manner? As a society we would like to think that we ourselves are above such cruelty, yet as The Lonely Crossing of Juan Cabrera recounts the state of Cuba in the 1990’s so must we remember that all societies and governments view the individual differently as opposed to the whole. Each group has unique expectations that are enforced upon the individual goes beyond those expectations. The individual can very quickly find their rose glasses view of their society cracking before their very eyes as the reality of taking such a rise comes into view.

had been weathered. And then in 1986, Chris drove out to El Segundo, made the

In their attempts to maintain an accurate depiction of the organization, the authors do not cloud details to try and uphold any political or social agenda. They show how Mexicans felt justified in their struggle and how the Texas Rangers often misrepresented their own actions. One incident revolved around Captain William Warren Sterling of Hidalgo County. In his own memoirs, he made claims that he never shot, or even pistol-whipped a man. He wrote, “Throughout my lifetime, I have held a high regard and deep esteem for Latin Americans. Some of my best friends are members of that important segment of our citizenship” (p.270). Yet, the writers published a claim that Sterling shot and killed, among others, an innocent Mexican boy accused of

In the year 1997 a young boy around six months crosses the border on the back of his mother along side his father. They trekked through the harsh environment to cross the border into the promised land to seek a better life for the young boy. Eighteen years later he would be challenged by the american education system to see if his parents sacrifice was worth it. Andres Guzman grew up in the quiet suburbs of a not so small town of La Mirada located between Norwalk and Buena Park and not too far from Los Angeles. After graduating from the originally named La Mirada High School Andres face the journey to get be accepted to a four year university. No four year would accept him though because he didn't apply himself in high school.

I think in the Latino community, nearly anybody knows journalist Jorge Ramos, who is the Univision news anchor. Ramos is not an activist, yet he is pro-immigrant and in the past years, he has spoken for the people whose voices are not heard: undocumented.

My life as Adriana Torres started on June 15, 2001. It was kind of odd because when i was born my parents said i was born exactly at the time of 6:15 am. They thought it was a coincidence that my birthday is 6.15.01 and i was born at 6:15 am. My name Adriana, came from the spanish origin. I was born in Dallas, Texas, which is also where i have been growing up. I am hispanic. In my family there are 5 other people not including me, which are my two older brothers and my older sister, then my two parents.

When the troop comes into the barber's shop, the barber starts to tremble. He recognizes him as Captain Torres. The one who gives the orders.

I am Sergio Palacio, I study at North Broward Preparatory school, I am from Colombia, Im 12 years old, I have tried with a lot of sports and I have liked all of them, when I was like 4 years old my mom ten when I was 6 I started learning roller skates we played a little bit of hockey because there was no sticks the pocks weren't the best ones but that was what we had then three years later they invited me to go the Saturday so I went with a friend that was also in hockey, I really liked it so I did hockey since that day, then when I was 11 I went to swimming classes with a friend but we could only do swimming for a year because it was with the school and that was the last year we could go to sports and this summer I ...

Hi Carrie! I agree that the message of morals is largely apparent in this story, and this reminded me of a quote "Who is more wicked: he who kills evil, or he who protects them" (S. Jackson). I liked how you pointed out how the pointed out how Captian Torres' quote of killing not being easy. My question is, if Captain Torres knew that the barber was a rebel informat, why did he put himself in that vulnerable position? In the story the author points out that Captain Torres has ordered executions in the past, and pointed out how hard it is to do so. My take on the matter is that the Captain wants to be punished for what he's done and has given the right to judge him to the barber, someone who has personallly seen what he's done and stands on