preview

Stereotypes: A Short Story Of Gaby Rodriguez

Decent Essays

Gaby Rodriguez was the youngest of seven children of a single mother growing up in Toppenish, Washington. Her mother gave birth to her first of seven children at the age of 15 and all of Gaby’s siblings began having children in their adolescence as well. Gaby grew watching her mother and siblings struggle trying to raise their children and work slightly above minimum wage jobs to support their families. She often found herself watching her nieces and nephews while missing out on peer interaction throughout her early adolescence. Gaby watched how hard it was for her family and vowed to not make the same mistakes by becoming a teen mom. As Gaby entered high school, she found herself somewhat inexperienced when it came to making friends. Having to watch after her nieces and nephews, she only made a few friends when she could go outside and play. She made friends with a few students in her honors classes and she gained a best friend, Saida. In her sophomore years, she meets her boyfriend, Jorge and they continued to date throughout high school and even after she graduated from high school. Gaby managed to maintain good grades, but always wondered what she could do to make a difference in other lives. For her senior project, she decided to “fake” her pregnancy, to get a glimpse into the lives of pregnant teens. She wanted to observe the stereotypes people always spoke of, the discouraging comments that were said about teen moms, and backlash they experience from their families. Since, most members in her family and community believed Gaby would follow in her family’s footsteps, it was not hard to convince everyone she was pregnant. Throughout the memoir, Gaby shared her experiences and the challenges she faces as she carried out this plan. By the end of the experiment, Gaby was very unhappy and she was ready to go back to living a normal life. However, her life has not been normal since.
Novel Relationship to the Textbook The Pregnancy Project novel relates to many topics we have discussed in this class. The main topic we have discussed in relation to the novel is in chapter 11 sexuality, or teen pregnancy. In the memoir, family dynamics, socioeconomic status, intimacy, peer relationships and education topics

Get Access