The sentence that I think expresses the main idea of the essay is this one: "What's this about little women? he asked my mother. "¿Estas criando un pato?" - You raising a fag? They argued, and he stormed out and slammed the door of his van." I chose this sentence because it combines the three themes of the essay. Luis Negrón begins by giving us a summary of his childhood. Many of his experiences stem from the problems between his father and his mother. In this sentence, we see that his parent's problems are present. As the author said at the beginning, his parents were constantly arguing and just as at the beginning of the story, his father was leaving home. Also, this sentence mentions the book "Little Woman". That book, written by Louisa May Alcott, was the one that fascinated Luis Negrón and was also the cause of his great fear: hearing people call him "pato". That is why I also chose this sentence, because it mentions that word that Luis Negrón was afraid to hear as a child but which in turn was the cause of his essay. I consider that this sentence brings together the three main arguments of this essay, which are: his experiences with his family, reading, and the main argument, homosexualism through the first two arguments. I think this sentence expresses the main idea of the essay which is to show "the pain of reading", that is, reading caused the pain of his childhood which was that they thought he was homosexual. In addition, we see how stereotypes and rejection of homosexuals are present in his family.
Going into a work titled “The Pain of Reading” I expected something deeply related to writing and its works. However, Luis Negron’s essay has a lot more to do with his own personal life and his experiences with homophobia than anything else. The line I’m choosing is the very first one “The fights between my parents were frequent, and my three siblings and I were used to their separations.” In one brief sentence Negron gives you a very good idea of what the rest of the essay is about, family and misogynism. It tells you about the problems his mother and father faced, the uncomfortable comfortableness him and his siblings had of their constant fighting, and also gives a sort of foreshadowing to the terrible actions his father would go on to do. It’s a great first line and one that perfectly represents the rest of the text. – Adrian Jimenez
The sentence that expresses the main idea is, “Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought. I’m just not meant for good things.” I chose this sentence because it summarizes why it is painful to read. In this essay he reads this book called “Little Women”. He was enjoying the book and he decided to tell his dad about the book. His dad didn’t like and told his mom about her raising a fag. She then took the authors book and tore it into pieces. The author was enjoying an entertaining book for him, but it is taken away from him as soon as his dad figures about it. Him enjoying the book and then his mom breaking it is a summary of how miserable his life is because he is constantly being punished by his parents, and being treated badly all the time. Finally, it is painful to read and to keep on with his life because he cannot escape from the word “fag”, and it is a constant reminder in his life.
Among reading Luis Negrón's essay, "The Pain of Reading", one part that stood out to me the most was: "Now I would never again be able to return to the library nor would I be able to finish the illustrated series of classics. Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought.". As we read the essay we can repeatedly observe that Negrón's childhood was constantly filled with family problems and economic issues. He was facing demons since a very young age and literature was what brought him peace and kept him going as he illustrated in the text. It worked as a motivation. Without that he felt the weight of the world fall on his shoulders along with the fear of public humiliation that his family brought upon him. This constant battle of problems and humiliation that he constantly presented the reader made a little boy think he wasn't meant for good things in life.
This essay, titled "The Pain of Reading", written by Luis Negrón, expresses those feelings about what he felt in his childhood. The sentence that expresses the main idea is: "Estas criando a un pato?"-You raising a fag? I chose this sentence since that word was the one that traumatized him to the point of fearing that word. We can analyze the past events like his parents separating, their homeless state and we can see that these events led up to that moment. We can see that his dad's words hurt him very bad. Even his mother shouts to him that he's a queer and a little woman. It's very sad to read that he thinks that he's not meant for good things.
At first I thought the essay was going to be about a kid who read books with strong content such as war, slavery and others, But upon reading it I am surprised that ny guess was not even close. The sentence "That was the word I most feared in school, or playing games with my cousins, the word I couldn’t escape" is the sentence that for me describes what the main idea is. From reading the title and this sentence I can come to a conlcusion of what the essay is about, athough it may not be 100% accurate it would be very close. This sentence let's me know that a simple word can affect a [person very much, even si that it might be the most terrifying thing to a person, even more to a kid. I can associate this sentence with the title because it let's me knw that reading caused the person in the essay to be called a word he was afraid of, and it would ultimately lead him to a path where he could not read.
The main idea of this essay is that the narrator is unhappy with his life. He wants a “normal” life but can’t have it. A sentence that greatly expresses these feelings is: “I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books”. Reading those books made him compare his life to that of the characters in the story. He realized that the lifestyle that they lived was unattainable for him. But he still fell in love with the stories that he was reading. Still, he didn’t want anyone to know the reality of his life. He was ashamed of who he was. Those books, even though they helped him escape his reality, were the ones causing him the pain of noticing it in the first place. Hence the tittle “The Pain of Reading”. – Alondra Acevedo Ortiz
The sentence that in my opinion expresses the main idea is when the author writes. “I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books.”This sentence makes me feel all the author's intention and heart through the words. That insatiable desire to see life from a positive and happy perspective. Perhaps it is a survival instinct that prohibits us to faint, that makes us stick to anything, in the case of the author the books, and forces us to follow our path. In this sentence are enclosed his greatest desires and dreams, to have a normal family, as in the books. Beyond his circumstances he was looking for a way to be himself, even if this cost him insults and rejection. Through this sentence the author's fervent desire to live, to live fully is transmitted. Ignoring in a certain way the past and not worrying about the future, with the sole mission of living today, the here and now.
In this essay you can find many sentences that resume the main topic of it. One of them its “Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought I’m just not meant for good things.” located in the last paragraph. This sentence represents how all is life he has been struggling with harsh things and just bad situations that he has been put on; and when he is finally happy or at least pleased with the circumstances that currently are happening to him, all take a twist and goes in the wrong direction; and in every single one of those events, he’s not responsible of anything. I think its really sad because he’s just a little boy, and for him to be put in those conditions it would probably cause some trauma and a guilty feeling that would stays for the rest of his life with him; just because the adults that were surround him just didn’t understand how he felt and didn’t consider him important. Other sentences that would probably describe the main idea of this essay and personally are my favorites are “ I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books.” and “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with excitement — but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us. I found a washing machine box in perfect condition and felt happy to have a room of my own.” located in the 9th and 5th paragraph. I think this just gives us an idea of how optimist the main character is and how he even in the cruelest and not the most comfortable moments in his short life he stills try to find a positive way to look at thing and until the last moment he’s genuine to himself.
The sentences that expresses the main idea and is connected to the title are “Queer! Little woman!” and “You raising a fag?”. I think that those words were the most painful experience that girl ever had and they said all that because she read a book. After that, she will be traumatized and will not want to read ever again because she will think that her parents will hurt her again. Things like this happen everyday, someone gets scolded for doing something and then they live their lives thinking they will get scolded for doing something they think is not bad. That is why we should think before acting because we will end up saying some stuff that we did not mean to say.
The sentence I think expresses the main idea of the essay is "When I looked at my mother, she screamed, “Queer! Little woman!” and she grabbed the book from me and tore it into pieces.", from the seventh paragraph of the second page. The author recounts a difficult and unhappy period of his childhood, telling us about experiences that any child should never have to go through. Among those gloomy days, he finds a hobby that brings him clarity, peace and a way to clear his mind: reading. However, due to the abusive environment in which he lives, reading also ends up bringing him pain and sadness. Hence the title of this essay and the sentence I chose as the main idea. That sentence describes the moment in which the author felt pain because of the reading, the moment in which he felt that all things always end badly and that he is not meant for good things. A child is not supposed to have that kind of thoughts.
The essay "The Pain of Reading", written by Luis Negrón, tells the story from the point of view of a child that is a part of a dysfunctional Puerto Rican family. The sentence of the essay that represents the main idea of this is:
"Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought. I'm just not meant for good things."
This child, from what is understood in the reading, has not had a simple childhood. His family has not been stable: his father for a long time was constantly away from their lives, they did not have a stable home (they were even about to live in an abandoned ballpark sheltered by cardboard boxes), etc. In addition, when the boy had finally found a place where he could clear his mind, feel comfortable and develop hobbies such as reading, these opportunities were snatched away by the simple fact of not being accepted and / or being seen as a "queer". In conclusion, the child demonstrates how affected he is by being named as follows. He expresses being embarrassed and constantly afraid of being named this way since the child couldn't escape from it.
We lived like nomads, pushing on whenever our hosts’ hospitality had run dry. That was the sentence I chose. They lived like nomads because of the separation of their parents. They lived in many different places because their dad decided to get involved with a woman next door and that is when their mom decided to go far away from his husband. The mom took a decision without thinking, she let the rancor control her and did not think of her children or the good for them. She and her ex husband were the cause of so much suffering in their kids lives. They were more than happy to just have a book and the only thing he liked his mom took it away and broke it. His dad called him “pato” because of the book “Little Women” and once again took happiness away from him and his children. That essay brought to my mind how ungrateful I am. I have a house, food, a family that loves me and everything I need and I still get mad over little things, that’s something I realized.
The sentence I chose was “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with excitement -- but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us.” because I feel that it exemplifies Luis’ struggle to find happiness, the main idea of this essay. Starting off, Luis tells us how his family’s situation isn’t the best; his father left at an early age and they had to move houses until their tenants got sick of them, his mother often traumatized him and his siblings by playing dead then laughing at them when they cried, more and more of this created a fragile person in Luis. Luis’ constant search for happiness or rather normalcy is often halted by overshadowing figures such as his mother as detailed in the sentence, or his father. This, coupled with the fact that he often got bullied in school and with his awkward living spaces left him looking for the good in the bad. He often finds these good events such as his aunt buying him new shoes, being able to read books in the library and so on, but they’re always stopped by something out of his control, and very anticlimactic, they end his happiness.
The sentence I chose was “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with excitement -- but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us.” because I feel that it exemplifies Luis’ struggle to find happiness, the main idea of this essay. Starting off, Luis tells us how his family’s situation isn’t the best; his father left at an early age and they had to move houses until their tenants got sick of them, his mother often traumatized him and his siblings by playing dead then laughing at them when they cried, more and more of this created a fragile person in Luis. Luis’ constant search for happiness or rather normalcy is often halted by overshadowing figures such as his mother as detailed in the sentence, or his father. This, coupled with the fact that he often got bullied in school and with his awkward living spaces left him looking for the good in the bad. He often finds these good events such as his aunt buying him new shoes, being able to read books in the library and so on, but they’re always stopped by something out of his control, and very anticlimactic, they end his happiness. The sentence I chose was “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with excitement -- but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us.” because I feel that it exemplifies Luis’ struggle to find happiness, the main idea of this essay. Starting off, Luis tells us how his family’s situation isn’t the best; his father left at an early age and they had to move houses until their tenants got sick of them, his mother often traumatized him and his siblings by playing dead then laughing at them when they cried, more and more of this created a fragile person in Luis. Luis’ constant search for happiness or rather normalcy is often halted by overshadowing figures such as his mother as detailed in the sentence, or his father. This, coupled with the fact that he often got bullied in school and with his awkward living spaces left him looking for the good in the bad. He often finds these good events such as his aunt buying him new shoes, being able to read books in the library and so on, but they’re always stopped by something out of his control, and very anticlimactic, they end his happiness.
Luis Negrón’s “The Pain of Reading” narrates the story of his dysfunctional, abusive, and discordant family and the precarious circumstances that unravel in their household. The sentence I think expresses the main idea of the essay is: “Because of that word that no matter what – no matter what I do or how I do it – I could never escape.” Negrón found solitude in reading, it became his escape mechanism from his trauma and frustrations. Therefore, to have his new-found passion crumble right in front of his eyes when his parents insult him, not giving Negrón a chance to explain himself, captures the main idea of the story. No matter what he said or did to justify his particular interest for the “Little Women” book, he would always be portrayed by his family as the insults they threw at him. The pain referred to in the title of this essay resonates in this last sentence. This pain he felt was a result from the rejection and ridicule of that reading. What was once a freeing experience and safe space, became an out of reach venture stripped away from Negrón’s life.
The sentence I chose is the following; "Because of that word that no matter what — no matter what I do or how I do it — I could never escape." I chose this sentence because I think it is the message of this story. Maybe because, already knowing the culture of Puerto Rico, knowing that majority of the male community already grew up with male chauvinism, and that they are afraid, or in this case, disgusted,of the different, the father from those times were very toxic, and thought that any boy growing up with a lot of feminine figures around makes him a fag, as he says so in the article. Obviously it's going to scar him, that even his own father is going to tell him that awful word, and make him grow with a sort of complexity about it.
The sentence I chose is “ . When I looked at my mother, she screamed, “Queer! Little woman!” and she grabbed the book from me and tore it into pieces.”
I think this expresses the main idea of the essay because of the hurt caused by misinformation. The parents read the title and assumed it was related to their son’s sexual orientation. In the same sentence, words of hatred are spoken of him and the book he enjoyed ripped to shreds. To me, this portrays the title of the essay because of the pain he feels from the words used against him and something he loves being ruined(the act of reading and the actual copy of the book) .
When I first read the title ‘The Pain of Reading’ ’I thought it was going to be related to the last reading about why kids can’t write. As soon as I start to read Santurce, P.R, I already knew that this was going to be a story of some event that happened to the author. Basically, the reading talks about the miserable childhood that Luis Negrón had and how he and his family had to move forward even so with all the issues they had. The biggest concern was that he already knew that he wasn’t destined to have a life of prosperity thanks to a word his father told him. That’s why the sentence that you consider expressing the main idea is the last sentence that says: ‘’ Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought. I'm just not meant for good things. Because of that word that no matter what - no matter what I do or how I do it - I could never escape’’. This is a very powerful sentence, it summarizes all his concerns, but highlights his greatest fear; being called a faggot, which makes him feel limited and like an outsider. Hearing that even his own parents despise him, he's going to automatically block himself. That why is very important to take into account our words and the way we express them. It seemed to me that this was the ideal sentence because it collects all the problems and places them in a single idea. I think that this issue is very common now a days, and why Luis stopped feeling that he was going to have a good life is that many today are afraid.
"Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought". I chose this sentence because it really expresses the Main Idea in a sense. First it already started off with a bad story, when he tells us about his violent childhood and the conditions he was living in. Although their Mom was really strict and had became a tyrant, eventually He would have a glimpse of happiness put into his life in his new house in Arroyo where his Uncle lived. Sadly this is where I get the main idea from, His dad came with money and they were happy to see him, as their mother burned that hate slowly she started loving him too when she saw him. That's when the kids come really happy and show off all the things he missed out on, but the main character showed him the book he was reading and so his Father destroys his only passion with just one offensive word that he would hate forever after that. "Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought" fits perfectly because his life was just getting good for him and he had a passion and all that was destroyed to the point where even his parents hated it. It's a sad ending overall and no one should pass the thing he went through.
In reading Luis Negrón’s “The pain of reading” the sentence that I think explains the main idea of the essay is “Everything goes wrong at the end, I thought. I’m just not meant for good things” I chose this sentence because seeing the main characters life it basically sums up his childhood. Even though he was optimistic in most situations he struggled economically and did not have responsible parents. When he found joy and peace on reading literature, whichever book it was, it was taken away from him because he did not meet the criteria that his parents have on him even though his parents did not even raise him.
“I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books.” I think this sentence expresses the main idea of this essay because is shows how he was fantasizing with the perfect home based on the books he was reading. He was ashamed of his own life because he pictured the families from the books as the kind of family that he would wish to have. I think that this means that sometimes reading implies imagining or fantasizing with things or concepts that we don't have to the point where we get to be ashamed of not having it. An extra sentence that I think is very important to summarize this essay is "When I looked at my mother, she screamed, “Queer! Little woman!” and she grabbed the book from me and tore it into pieces.” I think that the fact that he was rejected by his parents based on his literary tastes and they just assumed that his choice of book was the afirmation of their son's sexual orientation. And on top of that, his mom destroyed the book that, for her, it was maybe just a simple book, but for him it was the his love for reading.
Reading this essay has amde me realize what Luis negron was truly talking about and the emotion in his writing. The sentence I chose was this one. "What’s this about little women? he asked my mother. “Estás criando un pato?” — You raising a fag? They argued, and he stormed out and slammed the door of his van. Clearly we can see that this sentence right here shows the main idea of this essay which is how Luis Negron narrates his life events piece by piece. Also we can tell how Luis Negron is deeply affected by his life events that he saw. Also this opens his eyes and makes him realize that life itself is not like in the books he read.
The sentence that I think expresses the main idea of the essay is this one: "What's this about little women? he asked my mother. "¿Estas criando un pato?" - You raising a fag? They argued, and he stormed out and slammed the door of his van." I chose this sentence because it combines the three themes of the essay. Luis Negrón begins by giving us a summary of his childhood. Many of his experiences stem from the problems between his father and his mother. In this sentence, we see that his parent's problems are present. As the author said at the beginning, his parents were constantly arguing and just as at the beginning of the story, his father was leaving home. Also, this sentence mentions the book "Little Woman". That book, written by Louisa May Alcott, was the one that fascinated Luis Negrón and was also the cause of his great fear: hearing people call him "pato". That is why I also chose this sentence, because it mentions that word that Luis Negrón was afraid to hear as a child but which in turn was the cause of his essay. I consider that this sentence brings together the three main arguments of this essay, which are: his experiences with his family, reading, and the main argument, homosexualism through the first two arguments. I think this sentence expresses the main idea of the essay which is to show "the pain of reading", that is, reading caused the pain of his childhood which was that they thought he was homosexual. In addition, we see how stereotypes and rejection of homosexuals are present in his family.
ReplyDeleteGoing into a work titled “The Pain of Reading” I expected something deeply related to writing and its works. However, Luis Negron’s essay has a lot more to do with his own personal life and his experiences with homophobia than anything else. The line I’m choosing is the very first one “The fights between my parents were frequent, and my three siblings and I were used to their separations.” In one brief sentence Negron gives you a very good idea of what the rest of the essay is about, family and misogynism. It tells you about the problems his mother and father faced, the uncomfortable comfortableness him and his siblings had of their constant fighting, and also gives a sort of foreshadowing to the terrible actions his father would go on to do. It’s a great first line and one that perfectly represents the rest of the text. – Adrian Jimenez
ReplyDeleteThe sentence that expresses the main idea is, “Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought. I’m just not meant for good things.” I chose this sentence because it summarizes why it is painful to read. In this essay he reads this book called “Little Women”. He was enjoying the book and he decided to tell his dad about the book. His dad didn’t like and told his mom about her raising a fag. She then took the authors book and tore it into pieces. The author was enjoying an entertaining book for him, but it is taken away from him as soon as his dad figures about it. Him enjoying the book and then his mom breaking it is a summary of how miserable his life is because he is constantly being punished by his parents, and being treated badly all the time. Finally, it is painful to read and to keep on with his life because he cannot escape from the word “fag”, and it is a constant reminder in his life.
ReplyDeleteAmong reading Luis Negrón's essay, "The Pain of Reading", one part that stood out to me the most was: "Now I would never again be able to return to the library nor would I be able to finish the illustrated series of classics. Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought.". As we read the essay we can repeatedly observe that Negrón's childhood was constantly filled with family problems and economic issues. He was facing demons since a very young age and literature was what brought him peace and kept him going as he illustrated in the text. It worked as a motivation. Without that he felt the weight of the world fall on his shoulders along with the fear of public humiliation that his family brought upon him. This constant battle of problems and humiliation that he constantly presented the reader made a little boy think he wasn't meant for good things in life.
ReplyDeleteThis essay, titled "The Pain of Reading", written by Luis Negrón, expresses those feelings about what he felt in his childhood. The sentence that expresses the main idea is: "Estas criando a un pato?"-You raising a fag? I chose this sentence since that word was the one that traumatized him to the point of fearing that word. We can analyze the past events like his parents separating, their homeless state and we can see that these events led up to that moment. We can see that his dad's words hurt him very bad. Even his mother shouts to him that he's a queer and a little woman. It's very sad to read that he thinks that he's not meant for good things.
ReplyDeleteThe Pain of Reading
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought the essay was going to be about a kid who read books with strong content such as war, slavery and others, But upon reading it I am surprised that ny guess was not even close. The sentence "That was the word I most feared in school, or playing games with my cousins, the word I couldn’t escape" is the sentence that for me describes what the main idea is. From reading the title and this sentence I can come to a conlcusion of what the essay is about, athough it may not be 100% accurate it would be very close. This sentence let's me know that a simple word can affect a [person very much, even si that it might be the most terrifying thing to a person, even more to a kid. I can associate this sentence with the title because it let's me knw that reading caused the person in the essay to be called a word he was afraid of, and it would ultimately lead him to a path where he could not read.
The main idea of this essay is that the narrator is unhappy with his life. He wants a “normal” life but can’t have it. A sentence that greatly expresses these feelings is: “I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books”. Reading those books made him compare his life to that of the characters in the story. He realized that the lifestyle that they lived was unattainable for him. But he still fell in love with the stories that he was reading. Still, he didn’t want anyone to know the reality of his life. He was ashamed of who he was. Those books, even though they helped him escape his reality, were the ones causing him the pain of noticing it in the first place. Hence the tittle “The Pain of Reading”. – Alondra Acevedo Ortiz
ReplyDeleteThe sentence that in my opinion expresses the main idea is when the author writes. “I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books.”This sentence makes me feel all the author's intention and heart through the words. That insatiable desire to see life from a positive and happy perspective. Perhaps it is a survival instinct that prohibits us to faint, that makes us stick to anything, in the case of the author the books, and forces us to follow our path. In this sentence are enclosed his greatest desires and dreams, to have a normal family, as in the books. Beyond his circumstances he was looking for a way to be himself, even if this cost him insults and rejection. Through this sentence the author's fervent desire to live, to live fully is transmitted. Ignoring in a certain way the past and not worrying about the future, with the sole mission of living today, the here and now.
ReplyDeleteIn this essay you can find many sentences that resume the main topic of it. One of them its “Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought I’m just not meant for good things.” located in the last paragraph. This sentence represents how all is life he has been struggling with harsh things and just bad situations that he has been put on; and when he is finally happy or at least pleased with the circumstances that currently are happening to him, all take a twist and goes in the wrong direction; and in every single one of those events, he’s not responsible of anything. I think its really sad because he’s just a little boy, and for him to be put in those conditions it would probably cause some trauma and a guilty feeling that would stays for the rest of his life with him; just because the adults that were surround him just didn’t understand how he felt and didn’t consider him important. Other sentences that would probably describe the main idea of this essay and personally are my favorites are “ I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books.” and “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with excitement — but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us. I found a washing machine box in perfect condition and felt happy to have a room of my own.” located in the 9th and 5th paragraph. I think this just gives us an idea of how optimist the main character is and how he even in the cruelest and not the most comfortable moments in his short life he stills try to find a positive way to look at thing and until the last moment he’s genuine to himself.
ReplyDeleteThe sentences that expresses the main idea and is connected to the title are “Queer! Little woman!” and “You raising a fag?”. I think that those words were the most painful experience that girl ever had and they said all that because she read a book. After that, she will be traumatized and will not want to read ever again because she will think that her parents will hurt her again. Things like this happen everyday, someone gets scolded for doing something and then they live their lives thinking they will get scolded for doing something they think is not bad. That is why we should think before acting because we will end up saying some stuff that we did not mean to say.
ReplyDeleteI wrote it in Word, this link should directly download the document.
ReplyDeletehttps://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=2&ik=38f54d5cac&attid=0.1&permmsgid=msg-f:1709528299295728341&th=17b976ee44ffe2d5&view=att&disp=safe
The sentence I think expresses the main idea of the essay is "When I looked at my mother, she screamed, “Queer! Little woman!” and she grabbed the book from me and tore it into pieces.", from the seventh paragraph of the second page. The author recounts a difficult and unhappy period of his childhood, telling us about experiences that any child should never have to go through. Among those gloomy days, he finds a hobby that brings him clarity, peace and a way to clear his mind: reading. However, due to the abusive environment in which he lives, reading also ends up bringing him pain and sadness. Hence the title of this essay and the sentence I chose as the main idea. That sentence describes the moment in which the author felt pain because of the reading, the moment in which he felt that all things always end badly and that he is not meant for good things. A child is not supposed to have that kind of thoughts.
ReplyDelete-Angelys M. Rivera Hernández
The essay "The Pain of Reading", written by Luis Negrón, tells the story from the point of view of a child that is a part of a dysfunctional Puerto Rican family. The sentence of the essay that represents the main idea of this is:
ReplyDelete"Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought. I'm just not meant for good things."
This child, from what is understood in the reading, has not had a simple childhood. His family has not been stable: his father for a long time was constantly away from their lives, they did not have a stable home (they were even about to live in an abandoned ballpark sheltered by cardboard boxes), etc. In addition, when the boy had finally found a place where he could clear his mind, feel comfortable and develop hobbies such as reading, these opportunities were snatched away by the simple fact of not being accepted and / or being seen as a "queer". In conclusion, the child demonstrates how affected he is by being named as follows. He expresses being embarrassed and constantly afraid of being named this way since the child couldn't escape from it.
Amanda N. Quiñones Fussá
ReplyDeleteWe lived like nomads, pushing on whenever our hosts’ hospitality had run dry. That was the sentence I chose. They lived like nomads because of the separation of their parents. They lived in many different places because their dad decided to get involved with a woman next door and that is when their mom decided to go far away from his husband. The mom took a decision without thinking, she let the rancor control her and did not think of her children or the good for them. She and her ex husband were the cause of so much suffering in their kids lives. They were more than happy to just have a book and the only thing he liked his mom took it away and broke it. His dad called him “pato” because of the book “Little Women” and once again took happiness away from him and his children. That essay brought to my mind how ungrateful I am. I have a house, food, a family that loves me and everything I need and I still get mad over little things, that’s something I realized.
Adriel De Jesus
The sentence I chose was “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with excitement -- but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us.” because I feel that it exemplifies Luis’ struggle to find happiness, the main idea of this essay. Starting off, Luis tells us how his family’s situation isn’t the best; his father left at an early age and they had to move houses until their tenants got sick of them, his mother often traumatized him and his siblings by playing dead then laughing at them when they cried, more and more of this created a fragile person in Luis. Luis’ constant search for happiness or rather normalcy is often halted by overshadowing figures such as his mother as detailed in the sentence, or his father. This, coupled with the fact that he often got bullied in school and with his awkward living spaces left him looking for the good in the bad. He often finds these good events such as his aunt buying him new shoes, being able to read books in the library and so on, but they’re always stopped by something out of his control, and very anticlimactic, they end his happiness.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence I chose was “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with
excitement -- but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us.” because I feel that it exemplifies Luis’ struggle to find happiness, the main idea of this essay. Starting off, Luis tells us how his family’s situation isn’t the best; his father left at an early age and they had to move houses until their tenants got sick of them, his mother often traumatized him and his siblings by playing dead then laughing at them when they cried, more and more of this created a fragile person in Luis. Luis’ constant search for happiness or rather normalcy is often halted by overshadowing figures such as his mother as detailed in the sentence, or his father. This, coupled with the fact that he often got bullied in school and with his awkward living spaces left him looking for the good in the bad. He often finds these good events such as his aunt buying him new shoes, being able to read books in the library and so on, but they’re always stopped by something out of his control, and very anticlimactic, they end his happiness.
The sentence I chose was “This seemed like fun, like camping out, and we laughed with
excitement -- but very quietly so that Mami wouldn’t hear us.” because I feel that it exemplifies Luis’ struggle to find happiness, the main idea of this essay. Starting off, Luis tells us how his family’s situation isn’t the best; his father left at an early age and they had to move houses until their tenants got sick of them, his mother often traumatized him and his siblings by playing dead then laughing at them when they cried, more and more of this created a fragile person in Luis. Luis’ constant search for happiness or rather normalcy is often halted by overshadowing figures such as his mother as detailed in the sentence, or his father. This, coupled with the fact that he often got bullied in school and with his awkward living spaces left him looking for the good in the bad. He often finds these good events such as his aunt buying him new shoes, being able to read books in the library and so on, but they’re always stopped by something out of his control, and very anticlimactic, they end his happiness.
Kenneth Pérez Camacho
By: Pennélope Alers
ReplyDeleteLuis Negrón’s “The Pain of Reading” narrates the story of his dysfunctional, abusive, and discordant family and the precarious circumstances that unravel in their household. The sentence I think expresses the main idea of the essay is: “Because of that word that no matter what – no matter what I do or how I do it – I could never escape.” Negrón found solitude in reading, it became his escape mechanism from his trauma and frustrations. Therefore, to have his new-found passion crumble right in front of his eyes when his parents insult him, not giving Negrón a chance to explain himself, captures the main idea of the story. No matter what he said or did to justify his particular interest for the “Little Women” book, he would always be portrayed by his family as the insults they threw at him. The pain referred to in the title of this essay resonates in this last sentence. This pain he felt was a result from the rejection and ridicule of that reading. What was once a freeing experience and safe space, became an out of reach venture stripped away from Negrón’s life.
The sentence I chose is the following; "Because of that word that no matter what — no matter what I do or how I do it — I could never escape." I chose this sentence because I think it is the message of this story. Maybe because, already knowing the culture of Puerto Rico, knowing that majority of the male community already grew up with male chauvinism, and that they are afraid, or in this case, disgusted,of the different, the father from those times were very toxic, and thought that any boy growing up with a lot of feminine figures around makes him a fag, as he says so in the article. Obviously it's going to scar him, that even his own father is going to tell him that awful word, and make him grow with a sort of complexity about it.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence I chose is “ . When I looked at my mother, she screamed, “Queer! Little woman!” and she grabbed the book from me and tore it into pieces.”
ReplyDeleteI think this expresses the main idea of the essay because of the hurt caused by misinformation. The parents read the title and assumed it was related to their son’s sexual orientation. In the same sentence, words of hatred are spoken of him and the book he enjoyed ripped to shreds. To me, this portrays the title of the essay because of the pain he feels from the words used against him and something he loves being ruined(the act of reading and the actual copy of the book) .
Génesis Esquilín Cortés
When I first read the title ‘The Pain of Reading’ ’I thought it was going to be related to the last reading about why kids can’t write. As soon as I start to read Santurce, P.R, I already knew that this was going to be a story of some event that happened to the author. Basically, the reading talks about the miserable childhood that Luis Negrón had and how he and his family had to move forward even so with all the issues they had. The biggest concern was that he already knew that he wasn’t destined to have a life of prosperity thanks to a word his father told him. That’s why the sentence that you consider expressing the main idea is the last sentence that says: ‘’ Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought. I'm just not meant for good things. Because of that word that no matter what - no matter what I do or how I do it - I could never escape’’. This is a very powerful sentence, it summarizes all his concerns, but highlights his greatest fear; being called a faggot, which makes him feel limited and like an outsider. Hearing that even his own parents despise him, he's going to automatically block himself. That why is very important to take into account our words and the way we express them. It seemed to me that this was the ideal sentence because it collects all the problems and places them in a single idea. I think that this issue is very common now a days, and why Luis stopped feeling that he was going to have a good life is that many today are afraid.
ReplyDelete"Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought". I chose this sentence because it really expresses the Main Idea in a sense. First it already started off with a bad story, when he tells us about his violent childhood and the conditions he was living in. Although their Mom was really strict and had became a tyrant, eventually He would have a glimpse of happiness put into his life in his new house in Arroyo where his Uncle lived. Sadly this is where I get the main idea from, His dad came with money and they were happy to see him, as their mother burned that hate slowly she started loving him too when she saw him. That's when the kids come really happy and show off all the things he missed out on, but the main character showed him the book he was reading and so his Father destroys his only passion with just one offensive word that he would hate forever after that. "Everything goes wrong in the end, I thought" fits perfectly because his life was just getting good for him and he had a passion and all that was destroyed to the point where even his parents hated it. It's a sad ending overall and no one should pass the thing he went through.
ReplyDeleteJavier Diaz
In reading Luis Negrón’s “The pain of reading” the sentence that I think explains the main idea of the essay is “Everything goes wrong at the end, I thought. I’m just not meant for good things” I chose this sentence because seeing the main characters life it basically sums up his childhood. Even though he was optimistic in most situations he struggled economically and did not have responsible parents. When he found joy and peace on reading literature, whichever book it was, it was taken away from him because he did not meet the criteria that his parents have on him even though his parents did not even raise him.
ReplyDelete“I was afraid to take them in case something happened to them, but I wanted the librarian to think I had a house and a normal family, the way it was in the books.” I think this sentence expresses the main idea of this essay because is shows how he was fantasizing with the perfect home based on the books he was reading. He was ashamed of his own life because he pictured the families from the books as the kind of family that he would wish to have. I think that this means that sometimes reading implies imagining or fantasizing with things or concepts that we don't have to the point where we get to be ashamed of not having it. An extra sentence that I think is very important to summarize this essay is "When I looked at my mother, she screamed, “Queer! Little woman!” and she grabbed the book from me and tore it into pieces.” I think that the fact that he was rejected by his parents based on his literary tastes and they just assumed that his choice of book was the afirmation of their son's sexual orientation. And on top of that, his mom destroyed the book that, for her, it was maybe just a simple book, but for him it was the his love for reading.
ReplyDeleteSAILET GOMERA
Diego Diaz
ReplyDeleteReading this essay has amde me realize what Luis negron was truly talking about and the emotion in his writing. The sentence I chose was this one. "What’s this about little women? he asked my mother. “Estás criando un pato?” — You raising a fag? They argued, and he stormed out and slammed the door of his van. Clearly we can see that this sentence right here shows the main idea of this essay which is how Luis Negron narrates his life events piece by piece. Also we can tell how Luis Negron is deeply affected by his life events that he saw. Also this opens his eyes and makes him realize that life itself is not like in the books he read.