“Everyday Use” and “El Tonto del Barrio”

The first similarity can be found in two of the characters. In both “Everyday Use” and “El Tonto del Barrio” a character left home only to return changed. Take “Everyday Use” for example. In this story the character who left was Dee. She grew up in poverty wanting more. So, she decides to go to a nice school and to get a good education. When she returns home society has taken its toll on her. She now has a new name and feels her mom and sister

Another set of characters that have things in common are Maggie, from “Everyday Use”, and Romero, from “El Tonto del Barrio”. Both Maggie and Romero are mentally slow. Another thing that Maggie and Romero have in common is that they are treated poorly. Maggie’s big sister feels that because Maggie is “slow” she does not understand her heritage. Romero is misunderstood by Seferino. Seferino thinks that Romero deserves to be paid for sweeping the sidewalks. Seferino does not understand that Romero sweeps the sidewalks because he enjoys it.

Neither one of these similarities are obvious. Students reading these stories have to “read with their mind engaged” as Mrs. Watson put it. Many students read these stories and do not understand them. These students are not reading with their minds engaged. If stories are to be understood then the readers must keep an open mind when they are reading the

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