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Character Analysis: Abuela Invents The Zero

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Michael J. Fox said that "family is not an important thing, it's everything". This quote, points to the idea that Michael believes that if everything in the world were to fail, family is the one thing that would remain. In the fictional story "Abuela Invents the Zero" by Judith Ortiz, there is a girl named Constancia, and her grandma is coming to New Jersey for the first time. Her parents tell her to be kind, but in the end, Constancia is very cruel to Abuela and makes her feel "like a zero, like a nothing"( Ortiz paragraph 15). Constancia's actions throughout the story, reveals that she values her self pride more than her family. To begin, Abuela is Constancia's grandma and strongly values her family, which is shown throughout the story. For instance, Abuela decided to visit Constancia's family, disregarding the fact that it was "her first time in the United States"(Ortiz paragraph 2). This shows how much Abuela cares about her family because she doesn't care that she'll be a foreigner, and how she doesn't know any English. Furthermore, Abuela goes out of her comfort zone just for Constancia and her family. Additionally, Abuela is described as a hard working …show more content…

In the beginning, Constancia’s mom tells her to be nice to Abuela, and Constancia agrees. This rule is quickly broken because as soon as Constancia sees Abuela she is immediately petrified. Once they get home, Constancia has to take Abuela to Sunday mass or else her life will be damned. When they go to mass, Abuela gets lost in the sea of people and Constancia doesn’t even care enough to go and help her to her seat. On the way home, Abuela ignores Constancia and doesn’t answer any of her questions. Abuela explains to Constancia’s mom that Constancia made Abuela feel like a zero. At the end, Constancia says that she never really thought about the number zero until she hurt

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