Martin Espada Essay

Recurring Themes in Martin Espada’s Poetry

Martin Espada is a well known, educated and respected Puerto Rican poet from New York City. His poetry often deals with major issues and have recurring themes, which stretch between poems. One strong theme in Espada’s poetry is the idea of power, and the abuse of it.

For instance, in Espada’s poem, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School,” the principal abuses his power over the school by banning the speaking of Spanish in the bathrooms. He has no incentive to do so besides the speaking of Spanish, and hearing his name in these conversations, constipating him. The principal in this poem is abusing his power as the principal, cutting of the Spanish speakers in the school of a location where they can express their culture and may speak the language most comfortable to them, if they learned Spanish as a first language. 

Another example of the theme of the abuse of power in Espada’s poetry is in his poem, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”. The people mispronouncing the narrators name are either using the power of the narrators name and purposefully mispronouncing it to frustrate him, or just not taking the time to ask them how his or her name is pronounced. When you have a choice to make, like the subjects of the poem mispronouncing the narrators name again, and again, you have power over the situation. Being careless with this power to make better choices is still an abuse of a, even if small power much of the time, power.

Lastly, the theme of abuse of power is an important theme in Martin Espadas poems in the poem, “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877”. This poem speaks of the lynching of two Mexicans by whites in California. The theme of abuse of power is extremely strong in this poem. Not only is the extreme racism and prejudice obvious in this situation, the “gringos” in the poem had much more power than these Mexicans. There were forty of them present at the hanging of the only two Mexican people, which means that the Mexicanos were almost certainly outnumbered to fight the whites who were trying to kill them. The whites were higher status and have a better situation than the Mexicans. They could've gone on to face little or no repercussions for what they did. It’s murder in every sense of the word, and all murders or deaths are terrible, but the way it was committed makes it even worse. The white subjects in the poem abused their physical and societal powers over the Mexicans. 

In conclusion, the abuse of power is a huge theme in Martin Espada’s poetry. He uses it clearly in three different poems of his, “The New Bathroom Policy at English High School”, “Revolutionary Spanish Lesson”, and “Two Mexicanos Lynched in Santa Cruz, California, May 3, 1877”. Espada used many different forms of abuse of power in his poems, showing that no matter what kind of power you abuse, it’s still wrong if you do it for the wrong reasons.

"Breathing Underwater" by Alex Flinn

**Spoilers!**

Breathing Underwater is the story of Nick, a seemingly perfect and popular high school student who is charged with a restraining order on his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin. But why? Nick doesn't think he did anything wrong. He just taught her a lesson. The book chronicles his journey to his anger management classes that will "help him", and overall just his journey to redemption.

I enjoyed this book a lot. My favorite moments were the letters, and seeing how bad the abuse got in the relationship. I couldn't really imagine anyone besides some alcoholic father (like Nick's dad) abusing anyone, but this really shows me that abuse can happen for lots of reasons, and isn't always the reasons we think. I also was surprised about the relationship itself, and gave me an insight to an abusive relationship. The book showed me a lot about the kind of people who get caught in relationships like this, people like Caitlin who don't think they're good enough because of someone (Caitlin's mom), who think the person will be their only hope at a relationship. Also it was interesting that Nick didn't think he was being that harsh, or that we was wrong. It made me really worried for others who are in situations like this, and how they might not even know what they're doing is wrong.

Also is made me sad that Caitlin's or Nick's friends didn't try to help Caitlin when they saw something wrong about the relationship. I think if I ever saw a friend in trouble I would have to tell them, even if it meant losing a friendship. 

Overall, this book was really interesting and emotional to read, and I enjoyed it. The movement to Nick's "redemption" was well written, as Alex Flinn is awesome. Read it!

"After" by Amy Efaw

**Spoilers!**

After, by Amy Efaw, tells the story of Devon. Devon has always been the "good girl". Straight A's. Master goalie on the soccer field. Quiet and well-behaved, even with her slightly obnoxious and childish mother who goes through men just a little bit too fast. But when a new-born baby is found in a trash can behind Devon's house, left to die, and Devon is the one to blame, her life will change forever. But how could Devon herself have not known about the baby as she claims? When she was pregnant, gaining weight and throwing up? 

This was actually a really good book. I heard some bad reviews about it and wanted to see if it was as terrible as people were saying. Though really the only thing that bothered me was that Amy Efaw used too many soccer references in it. I'm kind of laughing at that now, because that's a very silly thing to think of a book. But I guess it was very soccer oriented? I did think Devon, as a character was a little useless at times, and some of her motivations were confusing me. But I know very little on the subject of the book, pregnancy and rejecting your child after birth, so I may not have the full picture.

I thought this was a really intriguing book about how far humans will go to keep their personal image. I hated Devon at the beginning. It seemed so obvious that she was pregnant, and all the things that were put up against her as evidence, mostly the details in the flashbacks, shows that she did know that it was likely she was pregnant. She even seemed to hide it from other people actively, which means that she did know! I understand that denial over traumatic events can occur, but it seemed so obvious that she knew that she was with child, and that she could have done something about it.

One of the reasons this book ended up being really satisfying for me is that at the end, Devon does realize all of the things I said above. She knows that even if she was denying it to herself, at some level she knew she was pregnant. She knew what she was subconsciously trying to do when wearing baggy clothes, or what she realized when she had cramps from sit-ups. That she knew that she had to pay and do something about almost killing her child was what really showed that Devon was still Devon. She knew she wanted the baby gone when she gave birth. She knew she was trying to make it go away by hurting the baby. If I tried to do get rid of a child in secret, I wouldn't be able to get it off my mind- that I tried to kill something as precious as a baby, but I didn't pay any consequences.

As I said before as well, I didn't like that there were so many random soccer references in the book. I get that soccer was important to Devon as a character, but would someone realistically think that everything was like soccer? I got all the little anecdotes about hard games and practicing and tough foul shots, but it kind of took me out of a story that was really about what humans can and will do and denial, and made me think it was one of those children's shorter chapter books all about some kid and his baseball team, and the conflict is all about how some other guy on another team cheat and he has to prove it or something. It just felt wrong. It was a weird tonal change in the book. I expect that from sports books, but do even professional soccer players always think in soccer metaphors, similes and analogies?

"Girl in Translation" by Jean Kwok

**Spoilers!!! (MASSIVE SPOILERS!)**

Girl in Translation is the story of Kimberly Chang, a Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong, who travels to New York City with her mother in hopes of a better life. The story follows Kimberly and her mother as they struggle to survive with almost no money and very little opportunity. I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was an interesting and very readable story of a modern immigrant. The characters were interesting to read, and the culture and topic was interesting to learn about.

One thing I really liked was how Kimberly and Mrs. Chang's culture influenced their decisions. They could have had a much better situation, perhaps as soon as they moved to America, if Mrs. Chang had not felt "in debt" to her sister. Most people in America would think this is strange. Why would you stick around someone who is so obviously not caring about you? Who intentionally hurts your progress towards a better life? But that's the thing about this book, you have to take into account the other culture that is a giant theme and powerful force in the book. I really liked learning about Chinese family dynamic and culture, but thought it wasn't too forced upon the reader. It just let the reader see the logic in the characters minds, and maybe even learn a little like I did.

I usually am not satisfied by endings in stories. However, I was pleased with the ending here. It wasn't shocking or amazing, but it was sweet and short. I really like how the author used the prologue to make is seem as though Kimberly would keep her and Matt's baby that she was pregnant with, and live with Matt. The small twist that she was not living with Matt, but still had the baby at the end of the story as an adult, was also nice.

That's another thing about the book that I like. The author keeps you guessing and reading the entire book. There wasn't one slow part of the book. Kwok had amazing pacing, glazing over whole months to years at a time, but then knowing just when to return to the story. Kwok also knows how to write these sequences, making sure it isn't unsatisfying to be reading something like, "The winter passed quickly...", and just giving enough description so you still know what's happening. It makes the story much more realistic, and easier to follow.

Kwok also sends you a message of you can do what you put your mind to. This book, at it's core, is a classic rags to riches story. She also shows that you can be in tough situations, like poverty, pregnancy, and even sweat shop or other excessive working, and you can still do what you want in school or out of it, and accomplish your goals if you try hard enough. I recommend this book to those who like historical fiction, and just a good realistic fiction story as well.

Update: "Girl in Translation" by Jean Kwok

Girl in Translation is the story of Kimberly, a Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong who moves to New York City with her mother.

So far, I'm pleasantly surprised by Girl in Translation. Usually, I'm not the greatest fan of historical fiction (even though this is not that far in the past) or immigrant stories. I usually feel like they're too played out and a lot of the time, not that well written. It's really hard to relate to these characters because of their situation for me, which makes me not enjoy the book as much.

In Girl..., possibly because of the relative modern-ness of the story, I can pretty easily relate to Kimberly as a character. She is a smart, aware character who still has normal wants as an eleven or twelve year old, but is not taken over by these actions. She knows the importance of family, another thing I like about Kimberly.

Also layers of the story are interesting. Kim wants to be accepted by her peers at school and in the factory, but her strong Chinese upbringing is keeping her from totally assimilating. She also wants to please her traditionalist Chinese mother, but at the same time it's hard to do that when you're trying to become more American so you can do well in school and make new friends, even talk to your crush. Kim is a torn character, and I can't wait to watch her as she grows and sees which path she takes.

I was also interested in the Aunt's role in this. Kim's Aunt, Paula, seems very reluctant to help her sister and her niece, for reasons that have been hinted at, but not totally explained. The customs of the Chinese don't let Kim's mother complain about her sister not helping them as much as was promised, but I want to see if the sheer terribleness of Kim and her moms condition makes Kim's mother break away from their customs for a little while.

"Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale" by Holly Black

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale is the story of Kaye, a "modern nomad" who travels around with her mother's band until she's sixteen- when someone tries to kill her mom, Ellen. Ellen and Kaye travel back to Kaye's original home in New Jersey with her grandmother to get some time off while Ellen tries to scrounge up a new band and to score on free housing. For Kaye, this brings back memories of her childhood, where her imaginary faerie friends, Lutie-Loo, Spike, and Gristle played with her, and her actual friend, Janet, as well as all the kids who teased her for being weird and believing in faerie tales. But when Kaye discovers a strange man in the woods with an arrow sticking out of him, she begins to doubt that she was just imaginative as a kid.

Worst. Summary. Ever. ANYWAY....

I loved this book! LOVED IT. The writing was so descriptive and intense, but still traditional in tone. I've read the Spiderwick Chronicles as well, and I noticed that Holly Black's style of writing isn't a lot like many modern writers, another thing that makes her so special as an artist. She can weave the modern tone and language into the story perfectly with the fantasy while still keeping her tone as a writer. I liked this book more than the Spiderwick Chronicles as well, probably because this book was a  lot more mature than the Spiderwick Chronicles.

One thing I also liked was how Black dealt with mature topics, like sexuality and problems at home. Corny, though fairly secure in his sexuality, still wasn't happy with himself. He (though he was under a spell) wanted Nephamael because he wasn't going out there to try to find someone for himself, but also was angered that he was so shallow as to enjoy the things they did.

Black also comments on family life and teenage behavior in her book. Both Kaye and Janet's families are not very happy, and they deal with them in the same way. I think Kaye feels like Ellen doesn't care and mother Kaye enough, no matter how tough Kaye tries to act. She deals with pulling Ellen's head out of the toilet, and she likes not going to school, but she needs help sometimes too. Corny doesn't refer by name of "Dad" to his and Janets step-father, and mentions that his mother deals with things through Star-Trek. Janet and Kaye deal with their families by drinking and partying, and Corny just chooses not to talk to people, keeps his feelings pent inside.

Overall, I loved this book. I can't wait to read Valiant: A Modern Faerie Tale and Ironside: A Modern Faerie Tale (because you know I will).

"What's Left of Me" by Kat Zhang

**Slight Spoilers!**

What's Left of Me, by Kat Zhang, describes a world where humans are born with two souls, and the country America, now containing both South and North America, has been all but cut off from the rest of the world. These two-souled humans, called "hybrids" are seen as dangers to society, outcasts, and illegal in the U.S. The book follows Addie, who's know a freshman in high school. Her sister soul, Eva, had trouble"settling", or receding so Addie could live as one person. But Addie holds a deep secret- Eva never settled. She still lives deep inside Addie, paralyzed, as she watches the world through their eyes.

I liked this book, I guess. It was an interesting enough idea to base a book off of, and I enjoyed to read it, but I just felt like the plot was recycled, the characters didn't really make realistic choices, and there were some holes in the lore and history of the world.

The first two reasons I didn't exactly love this book go hand in hand. The plot was so predictable. There were little insignificant plot twists everywhere, but I felt like nothing really made me want to re-read a chapter or something. This was partly because of the predictability of the characters. For instance, it would have been far more interesting if Addie/Eva (how I will refer to them from now on) would have ran after Devon/Ryan told her to. I mean, Addie/Eva knew they were going to be taken away from their family either way, so why be taken to a horrible place where children are said to be institutionalized? Who knows. I'm not exactly going to say the character was a Mary-Sue, but it was a little clear that Eva represented a more adventurous side, possibly what the author wanted to be, and Addie represented who the author thought she was. This was also the author's first book, which further enforces my idea.

Also, possibly because this was her book, the author skimped on much background information that would have made the story clearer. One thing, why is the government against hybrids? It's very loosely explained. "Oh, other countries have them, and we don't like other countries!" "People can sometimes go insane from them!" (which ended up not even being true). It just confused me. I guess we can assume that people in this world were just afraid of what they didn't know, but that would also just make the whole scenario a lot more boring. Possibly a more substantial explanation would be revealed later in the series, as I assume it will be.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, but it didn't impress me. I will try to read the rest of the series, just to finish the story, but it wouldn't be on my top ten list of best books this year or anything.