Lara 1

Emmanuel Lara
Professor Cummings
College 1
28 September 2014
RRJ 2
1) In Chapter 2 we begin with a different narrator, this narrator being none other than:
Felicia. The chapter begins with Felicia narrating about her childhood and the jacaranda
trees. She was raised by her abuelita, and she mentions how as a child she had tried to
farm a jacaranda seed but it died due to what she considers, drowning. Felicia then
mentions how before she was found/ hired by Rick, Mrs. Calhouns husband, she was
looking for work on a street corner (the location was near the Grey Hound station and the
Midnight Mission). She then discusses how every corner was different and how they had
their own job attached to it; there was the corner for whores, the other for maids/servants,
and the drunks on the other. At that time she also mentions that she knew very little
English. This is important because the following event that occurs is: Felicia going to talk
with Rick and negotiating her pay, she brings her daughter Aurora along to translate for
her. The scene that comes up later is a scene in which Mrs. Calhoun is masturbating with
a mechanical device and Felicia happens to intrude and runs away. A note is then sent
to Felicia from Mrs. Calhoun and within it, it says that she was supposable brushing her
teeth. Felicia goes to apologize to Mrs. Calhoun for having snuck up on her, but she does
not want her daughter to think that she is not doing her job so she would appreciate it if
Mrs. Calhoun would not lie, thus, receiving the next note about having lunch. The

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following day they go to have lunch but as soon as Felicia walks in, she faints from
having seen a turkey. Mrs. Calhoun had bought the turkey for their lunch but Felicia tells
her that a turkey is used to serve more than two people, thus resulting in takeout food.
They then talk and Mrs. Calhoun orders Felicia a set of English cassette tapes in order for
Felicia to learn more English. They then ordered pizza and that day ends. The next event
that takes place is the pool party rick had promised Aurora in the beginning. Aurora had
invited her friends and they all went together on the bus. She then calls her mother a bitch
for not wanting to go on a date with the bus driver, who would have given them a
discount if Felicia would have said yes, who had been escorting her daily to work.
During the event of the pool party, Rick had ordered pizza for the kids and once it arrived
Mrs. Calhoun had yelled and shouted (maybe it was related to the pizza boy). The day
ends, and the Story of Alma Guerrero begins. The event was in honor of Madonna so the
daughters and mother had Madonna attire and articles. The event was planned by the
mothers; Aurora did not want to go but was forced to go by her mother. Alma Guerrero, a
three-year-old, was killed in a drive by. This occurred before the moms and daughter
were going to take a picture in front of a discount store. The Chapter ends with Mrs.
Calhoun dead, hanging from a jacaranda tree, found by Felicia.
2) While reading this chapter, I noticed that there was some allusion in play. There is a
section in which Felicia mentions her child, Aurora, was called a dirty Mexican. In the
Author Notes we read that Skyhorse had written this fictional novel in hopes of
redemption for once haven called a girl named Aurora a dirty Mexican and not being
able to apologize. This novel is his way of apologizing to the young girl of his past. I also
noticed that Ricks true purpose for having invited Aurora and her friends was to get

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workers. This application can be seen in real life (actually many of the events and actions
in this novel can be seen to play out just as in everyday life). The other portion of text
that had me in agreement was, when Felicia had stated her thoughts of the Pizza after it
arrived. She stated it was the size of a tortilla; they had paid forty-dollars, twenty-dollars
being a tip. I find this to be outrages since I can order a lager pizza for approximately sixdollars and eighty-cents, this being the total amount with tax included. I was also able to
remember the time when I had gone to Little Tokyo and a small pizzeria that had just
started was selling pizza for about the same price in the novel and the exact same size. I
see this to be a complete waste of money. Furthermore, during the scene where Mrs.
Calhoun was masturbating I was at first confused but was able to figure this out since I
remembered that during my years in AP English class many writers like to talk about sex
in their works. I began to ask myself, why would Skyhorse add this to his text? I then
thought that this was incorporated to show that Rick didnt satisfy Mrs. Calhouns needs
and I came to this conclusion since Rick was hardly there and didnt really seem to care
for her which can only explain why she would do such an action.
3) Discussion Questions:

Do you believe masturbation is an acceptable action? Why or why not? Does your
religion have any say in it?

Is suicide an acceptable action? Why or why not? What could be the reason to
why suicide is committed by many individuals?

4) I seemed to have accidently mentioned most of this in section 2. I was and still am
confused by why Mrs. Calhoun went outside yelling and shouting. I want to know what
caused her to react in that way. I know for a fact it is linked to either the pizza boy or her

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husband but I am still not sure. While I was reading, I decided to finally watch the music
video, Borderline by Madonna; it has a sort of 80s style and there has been a huge shift
in her music since the release of this song. For example, if one where to compare
Borderline and 4 Seconds, any individual would be able to tell you there has been a
change in style and genre.
5)
1. Batea Spanish for: tray, pan
i. This word is significant because not only is it mentioned frequently in this
chapter but without it we cannot fully visualize the death of Felicias seeds.
Every time we run into a word we dont understand our brain stops
processing information, which is why we must define it.
2. Tortilla - a round, thin Mexican bread that is usually eaten hot with a filling of
meat, cheese, etc.
i. This word is important since its needed in order to know what Felicia
meant when she was referring to the pizzas. Without this word an
individual may be stuck wondering why paying $40 dollars for pizza was
considered bad.
3. Tienda Descuenta Spanish for: Discount Store
i. In many ghettos or low income locations tiendas descuentas can be
found, this is due to individuals wanting more for their bucks. These stores
sell many items vary from: canned food, cereal, soap, shampoo, etc. all for
approximately a dollar or so. This information is necessary to understand
where these events are taking place and where Alma died.