The quote from Gloria Anzaldua’s essay that I chose is “Overcoming the Tradition Of Silence”. The reason I chose this quote was it sparked a memory of mine of when I was young. Similarly to Gloria tradition in her family, strict rules were set in my household/culture. In my brown family household, kids manners were held to a high standard, this means we were taught to greet guests formally when they came over, not to talk back to elderly and act as a role model for younger siblings and lastly develop into an individual that can do chores and think for themselves. These behavior skills were drilled into me through “small talks”. Whenever I did something that was not appropriate one my parents would wait until all the guests left and then tell me the thing I should work on. Some things they would say are “you don’t say cow in this way but you say it a different way, a more formal way.” However this form of approach wasn’t always used.. There were times where I was judged in front of guests. I hated that as I felt ashamed when that would happen as it put me on the spot, but that fear of not saying it wrong really affected my mentality. Now that I’m older I come to realize the main reason that my parents did that was to diminish the way I said something. The reason for diminishing the way I said something was because I have become so accustomed to saying it that way that I say it unconsciously and haven’t fixed it. But after being put in a situation where my morals are being challenged I start to change how I say it so I do not get embarrassed again. In Glorias description of her quote she also speaks about how her family and culture despised children that talk back to their parents and elders. When I was young when I would talk back to my parents or guests that came over it wasn’t really harshly reprimanded but when I got older I would receive meetings on how I should listen to what is said and to not question it and to not make up an excuse to do otherwise. For example my mother would tell me “tanvir clean up your room” and I would reply with “I will do it later” or “I don’t have time to do it now”. After my reply is initiated I am stared at, I would one day be told to attend a meeting at my living room and explain how it was bad for me to talk back. At first I didn’t really think to myself as if I was talking back, but my mother told me otherwise. She made the statement that when a elderly person tells you to do something it means you must get it done right away. To me her definition meant when  someone of power/authority tells you to do something, they are actually commanding you to do it, and when you’re commanded you have to do it as quickly as possible.

The story “The first day by Edward P Jones” was very interesting read. One observation that stuck out to me were how the story was actually past tense and not present tense as when reading the lines “I am carrying a pencil, a pencil sharpener” made me think she was giving her experience presently, but she actually wasn’t. When I reread the story from the beginning she made it clear she was talking about the past when she says “long before” Some details from the text that made a strong impression on me was the fact that her mother was illiterate as stated in page 2 paragraph 6 “Would ifou help me with this form? That is, if you don’t mind.” This made feel a strong sense of empathy because similarly when I was growing up I would see my parents struggle to fill out forums when going to the doctor and school since they weren’t fluent in English and writing they too would ask for assistance just like the daughters mom did in the story. The authors breakdown of the daughters entrance to school make it seem as if it was a very important step in her life. The author writes how the mother spends a long time dressing her daughter up with new clothes and does her daughter hair uncommonly by spending an hour to get her hair right which she normally doesn’t do and an even puts perfume on her daughter. Entering the Seaton Elementary School the author now shows a different view of the situation. Based on the first page in paragraph 3 it says that the school that they are going to enroll in is not near where they live and the daughter could not find any of her friends near the school either. In the school the Mother gets into a conflicting argument with one of the guards of the school who says they cannot admit her daughter to the school since they are from a different neighborhood after a long conversation of going back and fourth of the viewpoint of both the guard and the mother the mother and her daughter leave with no prevail. This implies that the author description makes out the entrance to the school to be a special day to then ending it off with a fail of not being able to attend the school. One element of this narrative that I can sympathize with is the setting of this narrative since as as I got older I had to attend institutions that were farther and farther from where I lived similarly to how in this story the daughter goes to a different place to go to school.