Ángel Ibarra

ANALIZE THE TEXT

1. Compare and Contrast Explain the contrast in Elena’s feelings toward her own home and Eugene’s house. Cite
descriptive details that reflect these feelings.
El Building: I think that she says that for the people that live in El Building, considered El Building like a stop in them lifes to go
to a better place. “We had not been back there since then, though my parents talked constantly about buying a house on the
beach someday, retiring on the island—that was a common topic among the residents of El Building.”
Eugene’s house: First when the couple take care of the house the house was beautiful, but when Eugene’s family arrived the
house, the house was neglected by his family, for example the mass of weeds. And Elena felt bad because El Building covered the
entrance of Sun to the Eugene’s house.
“By the time Eugene’s family moved in, the yard was a tangled mass of weeds.”

2. Analyze In what ways does this story reflect social issues facing America in the 1960s? Consider descriptions of
Elena’s school and neighborhood, as well as Eugene’s mother’s reaction to Elena.
In discrimination, because in the 1960s immigrants were not as accepted by people who were not immigrants, and these people
acted in a bad way, arrogantly, believing themselves to be superior. And this people attacked immigrants for a long time. She
looked intently at me for a couple of heartbeats, then said as if to herself, “I don’t know how you people do it.”

3.
a. What subject is Elena planning to study with Eugene?
“American History”

b. Interpret What other reasons might Ortiz Cofer have for calling this story “American History”?
For three reasons, first one is because the immigration and discrimination are part of the American History, the second one
is because the history take place in the day of the dead of Jhon F. Kennedy, and that is an important part of the American
history, and the las one is because the exam that Elena and Eugene going to present was call “AMERICAN HISTORY”