Child Abuse
Reading about American history is always interesting, but reading a story of a person who lived through American history is even more interesting and at the same time educational. When most people read a story of history they usually just read the story without reading more into the stories characters and time period. Often when you read between the lines of a story you usually get the feeling that you know the characters personally and sometimes you can even relate to their lives by sketching out a character analysis. In Judith Ortiz Cofers, American History, the main character Elena describes her Puerto Rican lifestyle and how her life changes after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Elena is a decent of native Puerto Rican parents who have moved to Patterson with their daughter in search of a better life. Elena says that she had “ … learned to listen to my parents dreams, which were spoken in Spanish, as fairy tales, like the stories about life in the island paradise of Puerto Rico… crowd of strangers all claiming to be my aunts, uncles, and cousins.” (58) Although Elena doesn’t live in Puerto Rico, she is still being brought up with the Puerto Rican beliefs and customs while also living an American lifestyle.