Sunday, March 8, 2009
Setting Blog 2
The book mostly takes place in Mexico, but it also has some parts in Chicago. This helps the reader understand that Lala is American, but has Mexican roots. The time period is, well there aren't exact dates, but it is while Lala was a child. There is also the time period while the Awful Grandmother is telling Lala the story. The setting impacts Lala because it makes her accept her family more. The setting is pretty hard to imagine. It's not as well described as the characters are. However, like Linnea said, the setting can be understood, mostly through what the characters do. Or if a character has a certain personality, the setting around them tends to match it. The book really couldn't have a different setting, and be the same story. If the book had a different setting, there would have to be a different heritage described. And if that were the case, different cultural aspects of the story would have to change. And culture seems to be a big part of this book.
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I somewhat disagree with the comment that the setting helps Lala accept her family. I think that the setting makes Lala feel more distant from her family. In Mexico, she doesn't understand the customs and things that her family is doing and feels like an outsider sometimes, since she is from America and doesn't speak Spanish well.
ReplyDeleteI think at first it makes her feel distant, but as the story moves on, she begins to enjoy Mexico more and more. She says when she travels there she remembers aspects of Mexico that she loves, she just forgets about them in Chicago.
ReplyDeleteI think that at certain points Lala can feel distant from both cultures since they are so different. I agree with Karen in that when she's in Chicago, she probably doesn't think about her Mexican heritage a lot so she might feel distant from it. But then when she is in Mexico, Lala can appreciate that part of her more and more. I like that the settings reflect her own heratige: she is American as well as Mexican. And since the cultures are so different, maybe this might bring up something later... sort of like conflicting personalities.
ReplyDeleteI like Sidney's analysis because after I wrote that Lala feels distant I also remembered times when she felt connected to her family in Mexico. One example of when she feels distant is at the party at her grandmother's house when she goes off by herself and hides. A time she feels connected is when she's playing with her brothers and getting in trouble at her grandmother's house. I think it's actually more the characters than the setting that distance Lala from people, since she is distant from her Mexican grandmother, but seems connected to her Mexican grandfather.
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