2. Read Las Cebollas page 100-120
3. Think about what we did in class today and pay close attention to the two passages we discussed:
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Esperanza went to the washtub and hesitated, staring in to the water. Bits of onionskins floated on the surface of the soapy water. She held a corner of the diaper, lightly dipping it in and out of the water, her hand never getting wet. After a few seconds, she gingerly lifted the diaper from the water. “Now what?” She said. “Esperanza! You must scrub them! Like this.” Isabel walked over, took the diapers, and plunged them into the water up to her elbows. The water quickly became murky. She rubbed the diapers with soap, vigorously scrubbed them back and forth on the washboard, and wrung them out. Then she transferred them to the next tub, rinsing and wringing again. Isabel shook out the clean diapers and hung them on the line stretched between the chinaberry and mulberry trees.
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In her entire life, Esperanza had never held a broom in her hand. But she had seen Hortensia sweep and she tried to visualize the memory. It couldn’t possibly be that hard. She put both hands near the middle of the broomstick and moved it back and forth. It swung wildly. The motion seemed awkward and the fine dirt on the wooden planks lifted into a cloud. Onion jackets flew in to the air instead of gathering together in a neat pile like Hortensia’s. Esperanza’s elbows did not know what to do. Neither did her arms. She felt streams of perspiration sliding down her neck. She stopped for a moment and stared at the broom, as if willing it to behave. Determined, she tried again. She hadn’t noticed that several trucks were already unloading workers nearby. Then she heard it. First tittering then louder. She turned around. A group of women were laughing at her.
Now in a well thought out, emotional, personal blog post please answer the following questions:
- How did you feel about this kind of work before you started? How have your feelings changed?
- What did you learn about yourself while doing this kind of work? Was it easy? Was it difficult?
- How did you feel while doing this work? Did you enjoy it? Were you proud? Were you embarrassed? Why?
I thought that it wasn’t that hard but whe we were doing it ourselves it was harder than I thought especially washing by hand. and it isn’t nice to have the smell of onions the hole time. I really enjoyed it but if i had to do it every day I wouldn’t like doing it anymore
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