When I Was a Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago

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When I Was a Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago

• Coming of age story
• Autobiographical
• Conflicts family life, social class, religious
  issues, education, cultural assimilation
• First published in English, later in Spanish

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Recurring Events in Santiagos Life

• Parents fight/separate but later reconcile
• Mami gives birth (Santiago is eldest of 11)
• Family moves

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Life in Macún

• Story begins when she is 4 years old
• Lives in one-room house with a dirt floor
• Learning about jíbaros
• Why she is called Negi (skit)

4
American Invasion of Macún

• Community center to provide breakfast for
  students
• Groceries toothbrushes for proper nutrition and
  hygiene
• Negi dislikes American food, gets sick in
  cafeteria

5
Learning About Womanhood

• Jamonas women who never marry
• Visits grandmother in the city for a week
• Dad never returns to pick her up and Negi
  realizes how Mami must feel

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Mami Goes to Work

• Mami takes pride in her work at factory
• Other women in the town disapprove of Mamis job
• Negi has to manage the house while Mami is at
  work dislikes this responsibility
• Raymonds bike accident, Mami quits job
• Need to move to city again (skit)

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Becoming a Señorita

• Family moves to new house Negi gets her own
  room
• Boys start to notice Negi (skit)
• Negi becomes a teenager (skit)

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Coming to America

• Live with Mamis mother, Tata in Brooklyn
• Signing up for school
• Cafeteria groups types of Puerto Ricans
• Negi works hard to improve her English

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Mami Papi Move On

• Papi no longer writes to them and marries a woman
  in Puerto Rico
• Mami falls in love with Francisco
• Tata disapproves of relationship
• Mami becomes pregnant and Francisco gets cancer
• Francisco dies and the family moves to a
  different neighborhood

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How America is Different Than Puerto Rico

• Mami enjoys factory work but doesnt want kids to
  do the same because America allows you to get
  ahead for working hard
• Fear of gente mala (bad people) lack of
  community
• Mami gets laid off goes on welfare

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Negis Big Break

• School guidance counselor questions Negi about
  possible careers college
• Negi decides that she wants to be an actress
• Teachers help her prepare to audition for New
  York Citys High School of Performing Arts (skit)
• Audition does not go well, but Negi is accepted

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All Grown Up and Looking Back

• After high school, Santiago earns scholarship to
  Harvard
• Returns to high school to thank teacher she
  auditioned for
• Santiago is the only one of her 10 siblings to
  attend college

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When I Was a Puerto Rican Resources

• http//splendidtable.org/recipes/soup_asopao.html
  to listen to an interview with Esmeralda Santiago
• Quiz show