Dead End

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Dead End

In the story "Dead End" By Rudolfo Anaya this girl named Maria deals with a struggle and is tied between two things, becoming popular and keeping the promise she made to her mother. Maria is a senior in high school. Maria goes through school everyday wishing she could be like the other girls with their fancy clothes and popularity. Before Maria's mother died she made a promise to her saying she would not give up and she would continue to get an education no matter what.

"I never had the chance," her mother said, "because an education was only for boys. A girl was supposed to get married, raise kids, take care of her family. But you're smart, Maria. You must study and become educated." Two years ago, at her mother's deathbed, Maria had promised she would not give up her dream of getting a good education. Her mother had smiled and closed her eyes. Her life had been hard, and the promise had brought a smile to her lips. Her daughter would be someone important, a teacher or a doctor. She would help people, and her life would have meaning.

Every choice Maria makes now is based on this promise she made to her mother. She thinks sometimes and wonders is this promise a joke or crazy but continues with it because it is her mother and doesn't want to let her down. I believe that if you make a promise it should be meant to keep because if you don't it shouldn't be called a promise. This promise she made may feel stupid at the moment but it is something that is keeping her on track with her future and helping her avoid problems, yea she may not be popular or dress nice but it is helping her get by.

The Word lonely is important to Maria because she doesn't want to be alone in life she wants to make someone of herself. She connects the word lonely to The Hispanic Legend "La Llorona" because she feels like if she lets Frankie get his way with her that things are going to end up bad. She doesn't want to end up like La Llorona with Frankie getting her pregnant and running off to a better life and not paying any mind to her. This story is a legend but she believes it is the truth because when Frankie was trying to get his way with her in his car she saw a shadow of a weeping lady and paused and pointed her out after that she realized things weren't right and that they should stop, so she told Frankie to take her home.

Empathy in the story is important because Maria feels what the lady from the legend feels because Maria is making an effort to not make the same mistake she did. She rather make someone of herself then to be just like La Llorona, which is really important because she stops doing things she really wants to just so she can have a future different from this legend. Envy is important because Maria feels jealous that the other girls in her school dress all fancy and are popular and she isn't. She tries to be like them and fit in with Frankie but she realized after everything she has dealt with that she is not going to drop her promise just to have this kind of life that she will probably regret later on in life.

This legend of La Llorona is a symbol in the story because it helped Maria realize that this isn't the life she wanted and that there are other things out there better then who she was trying to be. That she should never let anything get in the way of what she deeply and truly wanted in life which was to complete the promise she gave to her mother before she passed away.

This story was about a young teenage girl who had to make certain sacrifices and choices to make it in life. Most of the choices she made in life happened due to the promise she made to her mother. She wants all these things in life right now but she also wants a good and decent future so she does anything to not ruin her future. Everybody in life wants a good future but some don't actually make the effort to making right decisions in life. People make promises in life and some stay to their word and some don't but Maria is one that doesn't give up and keeps her promises as she shows in this story.