Review of Parrot in the Oven Essay

repeat in the Oven Mi Vida is a coming of age novel scripted in 1996, by Victor Martinez. The bosh is set in California and is told from the point-of-view of a fourteen year old, Mexican American boy. Manuel Hernandez, like many junior men, struggles with identity. Mannys look is hard. He has two honest-to-goodness siblings and a baby sister. His stick does not work. His father is unemployed and an alcoholic. The main provider and only person in his can that can keep a immobile job is his ripened sister. His older comrade cannot hold a job long. As would be expected, Mannys family lives in the projects. chore look brings its own problems. The Garcia boys live in Mannys neighborhood. They constantly terrorize and cleave him. Manny does not fight back. He realizes that he is outnumbered and too afraid to do anything. This could be one of the reasons Manny joins a boxing clubhouse in school, and later joins a gang. Family life is not much better for Manny. throughout the st ory Manny deals with an alcoholic father and a borderline obsessive compulsive mother that have both become stifling and resentful. Mannys brother is rarely central office, simply when he is he is often drunk. His older sister is resentful that she must operate the family.At one point in the story she gets pregnant and soon loses the baby. Chapter nine shines light on a learn aspect of Mannys character. As the form of address implies, Manny is naive. He lives in a preponderantly Latino community where racial disagreement is non-existent. In this section of the criminal record, Mannys stereotype urges his daughter to invite Manny to her birthday party. She reluctantly agrees. Manny tells his brother, Nardo, about the party. Nardo and their sister audition to explain to Manny that white people do not usually interact with Mexicans socially he is most likely macrocosm used.Manny does not listen. He is in lust. uncalled-for to say, the party ends badly. A terrible home life, hormones and identity issues lead Manny to gangs. He takes the beating, as a form of initiation, so that he can kiss a girl. He is not entirely sold on the gang culture but feels that he should hang out with the members. On his archetypical run with Eddie, a gang member, he witnesses Eddie assault a woman and fall away her purse. At that moment he recognizes that Eddie is the true cat that knocked up his sister. Frozen in place, Manny realizes that gang-life is not for him.He goes home and watches his sisters sleep, knowing that although life at home is rough at that place is nowhere else he would rather be. Parrot in the Oven Mi Vida exposes many aspects old(prenominal) to first- and second-generation Mexican American families. Many young minorities might be able to yoke to Mannys struggles. Even though the book deals with ugly issues like abuse, alcoholism, racism, teen motherhood and gangs, the book also provides a piazza for discussion around identity, self-esteem and p ride. I would definitely recommend this book to students.