Post #4

Summary:

           In the pages 121 through 174 Richard talks about his skin color. He states that he is darker than anyone else in his family. He appeared to be darker then his siblings which were light skinned and fit perfectly fine with the society of los gringos (the whites). His older sister was dark as well but not as dark as he was. Richard talks about how hard it was in the summertime to protect himself from the sun. He would get really dark and people would mistake him for being black. His mom would tell him to put on a t-shirt every time he went out. Separation by race is really clear in this book, especially throughout these pages. Richard observed how darker people were treated. They worked for the rich white people most of the time and did the hardest jobs. Richard didn’t wanted to be treated that way and his mom as well. She was really glad that Richard was getting a good education. Richard felt left out most of the time in his classes since he was the only dark person. But he was really glad that people wouldn’t bring it up in their conversations.

Quote:

       “My older sister never spoke to me about her complexion when she was a girl. But I guessed she found her dark skin a burden. I knew that she suffered for being a ‘nigger’. As she came home from grammar school, little boys came up behind her and pushed her down to the sidewalk” (Rodriguez 124).

Reflection:

          In this quote Richard explains how bad the separation of skin color was. He describes how his sister was pushed on the sidewalk just because she was dark skinned. Later on he also explains how she never got a boyfriend in high school and how she found it disturbing to be treated that bad. Seeing how his sister was treated, Richard himself was scared to talk to a girl because he thought he was going to be judged from his skin color.