Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rosaessayportfolio
Rosaessayportfolio
David Lopez
Professor Batty
English 101
15 May 2017
Agua Mansa is a little town east of Downtown Los Angeles, located in the Inland Empire.
It is your typical Mexican Southern California town, with Mexican styled food markets tattoo
shops, and the business that stands out the most is a botanica ran by a woman named Perla. Perla
is the spiritual healer of the neighborhood and she helps out all the people in Agua Mansa.
Whether it is for candles, love spells, or regular advice on life, Perla is significant to the
community around her. Perla has a loyal customer named Rosa. Rosa is a young woman trying to
find and change herself while dealing with negativity of the people around her. She deals with
problems that women have dealt with in the past, and remains true to herself as a kind person on
her own search of the pursuit of happiness. That is what makes Rosa the most saint-like.
Weight loss is an issue men and women around the world deal with. I have dealt with
weight loss and so has Rosa. Rosa seems dull and shy, but mostly positive with, Im lucky that
my weights mostly my belly because stretch marks there are easy to deal with. (Espinoza 14)
She knows she has some stretch marks to deal with later, but its like it doesnt matter because
she knows that can be fixed. Shes positive but she also knows she is not perfect because its
hard to be confident when you weigh as much as I do. When your bodys so big that even
breathing is hard. (Espinoza 13) Rosa wants to be confident. Rosa wants to feel sophisticated
like her sister Blanca once said. Only that in this case, she knows that it is her weight that is
lopez2
stopping her. The online health website EMPOWHER.com have an article written by Rheyanne
Weaver. Weaver writes, Overweight teens who have a higher body satisfaction and positive
body image tend to have higher self-esteem. Rosa does have self-esteem issues, and she works
on these by trying to lose weight. Having the empowerment to work on transforming herself is
what I like about Rosa. This makes her saint-like because being hopeful to lost weight is a
normal thing to worry about. That makes her a normal person one can relate to. She also sets an
example in the story for all young girls in the real world trying to lose weight, thus making her
Rosa listens to her people around her. Her sister,her mom,her boyfriend Miguel Angel,
her boss at work, and Perla, making her obedient. Sort of along the lines of a push over. She
seems like a nice girl, but maybe too much of a nice girl. A good and bad character trait to carry
along with you in life. She only talked back to her mom when her mom would really get out of
hand with her words making me think she is respectful and wouldnt treat her mother badly even
though her mom treats her not well. She can stand up for herself, but she is also weak minded
for letting her get pushed around by her mom. She has a mind of her own, but is she using it?
More yes than no because, she had the guts to rebel and made up her own mind when left her
house after the fight with her mom. It was actions like her leaving that relate to her trying to find
Rosa is the most kind to Miguel Angel. Rosa allows him to talk to her, take her to his
house, and defends him against her own mom. She has kindness for him. Her mom finds out
about Miguel Angel and disapproves by saying, Men like him are always up to something. You
better watch it. (Espinoza 29) Miguel is on parole and I appreciate Rosa for not judging a man
like him. Torey Richards, a licensed mental health counselor, makes a good statement on his
lopez3
website, young people are trying to come into their own and often rebel against their parents.
Rosa overcomes the disapproval of her mom and rebels against her only because she knows that
Miguel means well. This makes her saint-like and ties up to her being kind and open-hearted.
Mothers always want what is best for their children and they will help their children in
any way possible. I know my mom loves and cares for me and will help me in any of my rough
times. The only thing is that my mom doesnt always know how to express her love or say the
correct words in order to get her point across. Rosa has a mom that is applying pressure and is
helping her out, but in the wrong ways. She is forcing medicine down her throat that never
works. Childmind.org has a list written by Juliann Garey on how to help your daughters self-
esteem. The seventh bullet on this list says, help her build skills that are independent of
appearance, meaning that Rosas mom isnt helping her build a skill to feel good, she is
teaching her all these methods of working out and buying these potions to make her, not help her,
look good. Rosas mom is like a sheriff rather than a coach by stating, just look at yourself.
Look at that body. Do you want to go on living like that? (Espinoza 24) She is dealing with
tremendous pressure that I dont blame her for being a rebel. You have to make yourself happy
someway, somehow.
Rosa from Agua Mansa is the most real life character in this book because she overcomes
weight loss, self esteem issues, a love life, and parental disapproval that men, not just women,
deal with. Sometimes parents say words that cant ever be taken back, and I felt like I related to
Rosa the most because I myself have had my mom talk down to me for being lazy and being fat.
My mom has said I looked like a hoodlum, and its cruel words and comments that actually push
children and young adults to rebel. Rosa rebelled for the better not for the worst; she didnt end
up on the streets smoking meth and selling her body for money like some girls do when they
lopez4
have heavy issues at home, making Rosa a hopeful, kind hearted young woman that deals with
whatever life throws at her. Rosa sets a tone for all young girls her age trying to lose weight. She
is the perfect example that you can feel great and look great no matter what is going on.
lopez5
Works Cited
<https://childmind.org/article/raising-girls-with-healthy-self-esteem/>
Weaver, Rheyanne Rheyanne How to Improve Body Image and Self-Esteem Issues in
Overweight teens
<http://www.empowher.com/mental-health/content/how-improve-body-image-and-
self-esteem-overweight-teens>
Richards, Torey Teenage Girls And Older Men: What Every Parent Should Know 13
Feb. 2013,
<https://licensedmentalhealthcounselor.org/2013/02/20/teenage-girls-and-older-men-
what-every-parent-should-know/>