Questions In Their Own Lives example essay topic

ASHES OF IZALCOBy Claribal Alegria and Darwin J. Flak oll I found the beginning of this book quite confusing. I had a difficult time discerning who the main characters were and what was the plot. I also wasn't quite sure when the Mother had died and it wasn't until later that I realized the reason that Carmen was present was because she had traveled home for her mother's funeral. However, once I got into the book and started to put the characters in context, I really began to enjoy it.

This book has very sad overtones. It is concerned with the human struggle for happiness in life, or maybe just contentment. Just about every main character, present and past, seems to be involved in some inner turmoil. Carmen is struggling with her own identity and her unhappiness in her marriage to Paul. She feels she plays a role of dutiful wife as she was brought up to be, but that the marriage really has no strong foundation and she and her husband have nothing in common. Possibly a repetition of her parents' marriage?

She admits to being convinced by her husband to have an abortion. This must have been very traumatic to reconcile with her Catholic upbringing as she refers to it as "a crime". She is searching throughout the narrative for answers to her questions. What has become of her?

What should she do about her marriage? Her father? And one of the most pressing questions is her struggle to understand why her has mother left the diary to her? There are no clear answers for Carmen. As she searches for answers she is also experiencing the very early stages of the grieving process. She is angry.

She doesn't like at all that her mother has altered her view of her as a parent. Don't we all think that our parents never make mistakes or have questions in their own lives? If Isabel had left the marriage when she was a child, Carmen would have been forced to deal with the issue of an imperfect world with imperfect people. As she travels through some very poignant reminiscences, she admits to her own self-absorption as a child.

As an adult, she reflects on now seeing her parents more clearly as individuals. I, too, have personally had this experience in seeing parents differently from the adult perspective. Carmen appears to be wearing a mask in her own relationship that shows a repetition of her mother's life. The parallels of Carmen assuming her mother's keys, place at the table, and mediator status all indicate that the daughter is following the same pattern as the mother.

Has she been trying to live up to her mother's role model? And now that she is faced with her mother's own fall abilities must she face her own as well? The dreams the mother had for her children did not materialize in the manner she had hoped for, something better and less limiting than the stifling culture of Santa Ana. Even Carmen's escape to a life in Washington has not brought about the desired lifestyle. The book implied to me that we carry our baggage with us wherever we go. The decisions we make are greatly influenced by what we have been taught are the right mores of behavior.

Internal rules that we may not even be consciously aware that we have. Being an older student, I have caught myself numerous times repeating patterns that I recognize as having come from the home life I was raised with. It can be a very disconcerting experience. Alfred's struggle with alcohol seems also to be a parallel to Frank's story and his struggle with alcoholism. The descriptions used to describe this addiction are believable and real. As a nurse, Frank's verbalization of going through DT's was so very realistic.

It could only have been described by someone who has, indeed, gone through that type of experience. The fact that any addiction is an ongoing lifelong struggle was also portrayed in a way that was so believable that it was not a surprise when both men each returned to drinking. The depth given to the problem of alcoholism brings clearly to the forefront that there is no easy solution and that emotional dependence is strongly tied to the addiction. Dad's image as a man who was strong, bluff, and tactless at times, is also contradicted by the grief and withdrawal he is experiencing at the loss of his lifelong partner.

I liked the way the author portrays the many complexities of human character. For example, the way the Dad's sobs at the funeral goes totally against this image of being a "real man" that is described earlier in the book. I really liked the descriptive sections. You could almost feel the heat of the sun, the dust blowing before the storm. You can easily visualize the cantina and the treacherous roads without guardrails.

The horror and gore of the slaughter of the peasants and Virgil's sacrifice made me want to cry. The author allows you to become a member of a small insular community and the many eccentricities of its members. The old ladies and their gossip, the powerful Dons of the coffee plantations, the poverty of the peasants, the distinct class divisions, the struggle with an unstable political situation and its corruption. All combine to transport the reader to a place and time that could not otherwise be experienced.

You get the impression that "home" (Santa Ana) for Carmen has not really changed. It portrays a continuous cycle of living and dying and the human struggle for something more than mere existence. I was raised in a small ethnic community and left there as a teenager. However, I had some strong feelings of d'ej'a vu reading this book when I remember returning to my hometown and seeing the same people doing the same things after many years, not changed only older. As I mentioned earlier, Frank, Isabel, Carmen, Alfonso, Alfredo, and Eduardo all appear to have internal struggles over various issues. The one character that stands out as being different is Virgil.

Although Virgil struggles with his Spanish and ministering to his small flock, it struck me that he is the one main character that appears to have found contentment in his life. He doesn't complain and he doesn't lecture Frank. Perhaps, it is meant to imply that his religious calling has something to do with his calm serenity in most situations. It is hard to be around a person who is that way when one is struggling with one's own turmoil and indecision. I also wondered if that was why Virgil can so easily give up his own life -- -because death holds no fear for him. In any case, it is clear that Virgil's death has a profound impact on Frank.

Somehow, after this experience he decides to give up on the idea of taking Isabel away with him. I wondered if he felt guilt, after all Virgil wouldn't have been there if it weren't for Frank. Did it open his eyes to his putting blame on others and trying to use Isabel as a solution for his own problems? I will be very interested to hear other student interpretations of the ending concerning Frank. You wonder if he ever straightened out or did he drown himself in a bottle?

Basically, I did like the story even with all the depressing characters, few of who seemed happy. It definitely made me think. It brought back to mind many personal struggles in my own life and the feelings I had about things at the time. You know that saying about hindsight being so much clearer. But, I do hope that some of the future readings will be a little lighter or at least maybe have some small humorous breaks in the heaviness.