When I Was Puerto Rican (34-84)

Summary:

The mother is still mad at the father for sleeping with other girls, but the father still goes to visit her in her new house in Santurce. Negri has to become accustomed to a new school and neighborhood. The father is persistent and is breaking his neck to get back with Negri’s mother. The father tries to compliment the mother and not disrespect her. Every morning the father always reads the newspaper while he eats breakfast and takes it with him when he goes to work, but to get on the mother’s good side he would leave it behind on the coffee table. The dad would always try to have fun with all his daughters and Hector the new born baby. The mother eventually gave up and had a conversation with the dad which resulted in them getting back together, and moving back to Macun. Negri was so excited to go back to her neighborhood and hang-out with her best friend Juanita, who also goes to the same school as Negri. During the school year Juanita’s grandfather, Don Berto, a well know gentleman in the barrio died. That was Negri’s first experience with the death of a person that she actually met. The story continued with the Americans trying to give free breakfast to students and trying to teach them about good hygiene because it was election year, and the governors wanted to get the parents votes. Negri kept eating the American breakfast until one day she drunk some milk and ended up vomiting and bad mouthing to the lunch lady. Negri was unconscious for a couple days, and when she woke it was back to school, like if nothing had happened.

Quote:

“Well, it is the soul of a person that writes poetry” (Santiago 53).

Reaction:

Santiago is an author who likes to use personification. In the quote, she says that the soul, an intangible object is the reason that people can write poetry. The quote however, really shows the type of relationship that Negri has with her father. The father tries as hard as he can to give Negri a response to every question she may have, no matter if she is old enough or not.