Week one. Poem "Para Teresa"

In the poem “Para Teresa” by Ines Hernandez-Avila, the writer wrote the poem in English and Spanish to represent Mexican and American cultuere. The poem describes a fight between two Pachuca’s, in the 1950’s. The fight takes place in their school named Alamo during lunch hour. They both argue because they have different points of view of how the system operated.

The poem is written in English and Spanish because, I believe that she wants to show that she is bicultural. She wants to represent The American and Mexican culture. The poem describes how two young Mexican Americas girls decide to fight the system in two different ways. They both want to fight in different ways but for the same cause. The writer wants to fight and succeed by following the system because she thinks is that right way to do it. She does it for her mother, father, and grandfather that have sacrificed for her to have a better future. Her friend, Teresa, does it with defiance and arrogance. She is against the system and doesn’t believe in it and decides to not follow it. They both have the same goal, but the narrator believes that the only way to fight the system is by getting educated and following the rules. Ines writes, “tu y yo, Teresa /we went in different directions/ pero nos fuimos jutas”(65-67). This shows that they both are fighting for what they believe in but in different ways. The writer wants to get educated and follow the educational system rules. Teresa does not follow it because she doesn’t believe the system is right with her people, and they do not have the rights they deserve. All of this happened in the 1950’s and during that time life for Mexicans in the Alamo area was tough. After the Mexican American war, life for many Mexican changed in many different ways. They were discriminated and stripped from their properties because they couldn’t understand the new system or didn’t have the money to fight for their properties.

I believe the narrator can understand better and has a new reaction because she now is more mature and has a better understanding of how the system works. At the age of twenty-eight, now she can understand her friend Teresa. As years passed, she might have experienced things with the system that made her have a new reaction and see that Teresa wasn’t truly wrong on what she believed in. I also agree with both of them for what they were fighting for. I believe that the only way to succeed is to get educated. In order to get to our goal or get what we want to follow the rules sometimes. I think Teresa was also right for fighting in what she believed in.

The poem written in English and Spanish make it more interesting and I can identify with because I speak both languages.it was easier for me to understand it and related it to similar experiences I had in the past coming to The United States.