"He was to speak at the University, and I was determined to go. My parents forbade it. Che Guevara was a revolutionary terrorist, they said, and trouble followed wherever he went. I pleaded with Marco to escort me, but he was equally adamant" (101).
Magdalena is fit to be a revolutionist; she wants to be active in the political issues her home is currently facing. She hates it that everyone thinks she can't take part. They think she is too little, that she doesn't know what really goes on at the rallies she wants to attend. She later finds out, though.
" ' Officer, I-' I stopped, a cry of surprise caught in my throat. His hands were under my skirt, groping between my legs. The sting of his fingers penetrating me made me turn and hit him with all my strength with the brass buckle of my handbag. He reeled in surprise and fell, a hand to his bleeding mouth. Before he could recover, I kicked him in the stomach, discarded my high-heeled shoes, and ran along the broken pavement toward the lights ahead.
Magdalena was naive for thinking that the rally she attends will be all fun and games. She goes because she wants to see Che Guevara speak, but her going puts her in a great amount of danger. Not only herself, but also her friends. Cora ends up needing stitches because she had been pushed down in the street, cracking her head open. Emilia had not wanted to go in the first place, and she should have gone with her instincts. The rally turns into a riot, and many people were hurt. One even shot. Magdalena will forever be scarred for the way the police man touched her, she will remember this day forever.
"We hugged one another, wanting to reach the warmth and comfort of our homes, but in need of one another" (112).
Cora, Magdalena and Emilia are very close friends. They feel as if they are each other's family, because they each have a lack-there-of.
Ethereal- Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; intangible.
"There was an ethereal quality to Lilita's room" (116). Her room looked very delicate to Magdalena; simple.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Tree of Red Stars
In these tough times, Magdalena wants friendship.
"I did not like being teased about the elephant. I had never been able to make Emilia understand the special bond I felt with him. He had been born here in the Montevideo zoo and all the schoolchildren has been invited to participate in a contest to name him. I had just started school then, and the birth of the little elephant and thanking of a name for him had been the only things that made school bearable" (76).
As she grows older, Magdalena is becoming more insightful. She believes that each person is their own destiny. Each person is their own "God".
" 'Oh, but I am,' I said, and Cora gasped. 'I know it sounds like blasphemy, but I don't mean it that way. That's why I love the elephant. Because he knows he's God too, like I am' " (79).
This quote made me feel kind of connected to the book. I also believe that each person is their own "God", like Magdalena. I thought that was kind of cool.
Magdalena experiences her first crush in this chapter. She has never liked a boy before, so she doesn't even really know what the emotions that she is feeling means.
"At the time, I was too young to understand the hunger evoked in me. I knew only that in Marco Aurelio Pereira's presence I felt inadequate and plain. Sometimes, if he was absorbed in a task, I would find myself staring at him, wondering how anyone could be so perfectly beautiful as he and so unaware of it" (87).
This could possibly be some foreshadowing? Maybe something happens with these two once Magdalena gets a little older.
"There was a moment of silence. The word Tupamaro was usually spoken in quiet and careful tones. No one quite knew who the Tupamaros were, but their crisscrossed star with a T in its center was seen more and more frequently emblazoned on walls and underpasses. It was rumored that the Tupamaros were some of the most ruthless and well educated men and women in Uruguay and that their numbers were growing daily. Their aim was to take over the government" (88).
The Tupamaros are obviously a significant group of people in this book. They have caused the people of Uruguay to live in fear, fear of them taking over the government.
Cacophony- an unpleasant combination of sounds.
"My mother's resistance was weakened by a recent fight with Carmen, and Pepita was soon installed in the house, adding to the general cacophony by barking at Caramba and anything else that moved" (82). When Magdalena's family got Pepita, she was a bit hard to live with. She made an already stressed house, a bit more hectic.
Augmenting- To make (something already developed or well under way) greater, as in size, extent, or quantity.
"She was a poet and a playwright who wrote soap operas as a means of augmenting the meager allowance given to her by her husband"(85). Marta was a woman of art, and released her emotions in this way.
Equanimity- composure: steadiness of mind under stress.
"Her equanimity was unshaken even by her husband, who, in a parody of old-fashioned lord-of-the-manor behavior, forbade her soon after their marriage to leave the house unless in the company of relatives" (85). She was able to keep her head, even with the amount of stress on her shoulders that everyone seems to have.
"I did not like being teased about the elephant. I had never been able to make Emilia understand the special bond I felt with him. He had been born here in the Montevideo zoo and all the schoolchildren has been invited to participate in a contest to name him. I had just started school then, and the birth of the little elephant and thanking of a name for him had been the only things that made school bearable" (76).
As she grows older, Magdalena is becoming more insightful. She believes that each person is their own destiny. Each person is their own "God".
" 'Oh, but I am,' I said, and Cora gasped. 'I know it sounds like blasphemy, but I don't mean it that way. That's why I love the elephant. Because he knows he's God too, like I am' " (79).
This quote made me feel kind of connected to the book. I also believe that each person is their own "God", like Magdalena. I thought that was kind of cool.
Magdalena experiences her first crush in this chapter. She has never liked a boy before, so she doesn't even really know what the emotions that she is feeling means.
"At the time, I was too young to understand the hunger evoked in me. I knew only that in Marco Aurelio Pereira's presence I felt inadequate and plain. Sometimes, if he was absorbed in a task, I would find myself staring at him, wondering how anyone could be so perfectly beautiful as he and so unaware of it" (87).
This could possibly be some foreshadowing? Maybe something happens with these two once Magdalena gets a little older.
"There was a moment of silence. The word Tupamaro was usually spoken in quiet and careful tones. No one quite knew who the Tupamaros were, but their crisscrossed star with a T in its center was seen more and more frequently emblazoned on walls and underpasses. It was rumored that the Tupamaros were some of the most ruthless and well educated men and women in Uruguay and that their numbers were growing daily. Their aim was to take over the government" (88).
The Tupamaros are obviously a significant group of people in this book. They have caused the people of Uruguay to live in fear, fear of them taking over the government.
Cacophony- an unpleasant combination of sounds.
"My mother's resistance was weakened by a recent fight with Carmen, and Pepita was soon installed in the house, adding to the general cacophony by barking at Caramba and anything else that moved" (82). When Magdalena's family got Pepita, she was a bit hard to live with. She made an already stressed house, a bit more hectic.
Augmenting- To make (something already developed or well under way) greater, as in size, extent, or quantity.
"She was a poet and a playwright who wrote soap operas as a means of augmenting the meager allowance given to her by her husband"(85). Marta was a woman of art, and released her emotions in this way.
Equanimity- composure: steadiness of mind under stress.
"Her equanimity was unshaken even by her husband, who, in a parody of old-fashioned lord-of-the-manor behavior, forbade her soon after their marriage to leave the house unless in the company of relatives" (85). She was able to keep her head, even with the amount of stress on her shoulders that everyone seems to have.
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