Journal 4

The article “A Personal Reflection on Chicana Language an Identity in the US-Mexico Boderlands: The English Language Hydra as Past and Present Imperialism ” by Aja  Y. Martinez is about Aja explains how her linguistic ability was blocked by the system were she was raised in. The system that was created as result of The Treaty  of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which concluded with the Mexican-American War . She tells her personal story with her parents suffering from practically speaking Spanish and Martinez’s parents deciding that their children should only learn English  leaving her with a broken Spanish from home. She illustrates how being a Chicana assimilated in the American society,she is seen to people where English is a second language due to her race and skin color; consequently, she doesn’t identify herself as either an English speaker or as a Spanish speaker.

A good plot to me needs to have some form of driving force in the story. It doesn’t need to have a moral message, but something should be mentioned that drives the characters and story forward.  Aja Martinez’s article confirms this to me because her driving point is her personal relation with the Spanish language and how it was practically taken from her at youth and she had to earn it back in a harsh way due to the racism she kept receiving.

A story should be organized like a simple one. Beginning, middle, end. There can be some points brought up to the past in the story to explain certain points, but I feel like if it is overused in a story, it ruins and confuses the plot because you wont be able to follow when is when in a story. The article again follows this where it goes through her past chronologically.





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2 Replies to “Journal 4”

  1. Nice summary, Julian! And I also agree that her story really has a strong focus on her relationship, although she tells her story in a quite different way from how Tiffany Martínez does. Did you like the story?

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