preview

Summer Reading Reflection

Decent Essays

Make Your Home Among Strangers Summer Reading Reflections
Reflection Questions:
1. Why does Lizet feel like a fish out of water both at Rawlings and at home in Miami?
The consequences of growing up poor in Miami and Lizet’s subsequent transition into a Northeastern liberal arts student created two facets of her personality that were unable to mesh together. This was something that she was willing to acknowledge yet unwilling to admit was causing problems both at home and at school. “El” was ‘too Cuban’ for her white classmates at Rawlings, and “Liz” was ‘too white’ for her friends and family in Hialeah and Little Havana. The mannerisms that she’d adopted from each group of people was seen as unsuitable to the other, which frequently caused Lizet’s inner monologue to feel discomforted and kept her at war with herself.
2. How does Lizet cope with the challenges of being a minority student at Rawlings?
For the first semester of her studies at Rawlings, Lizet fails to cope with the challenges properly and finds herself isolated from her peers and failing her classes. The relatively poor work of the administration on the diversity board and their ice cream socials left her feeling like she was without dependable support from the college, although she consciously decided to turn a blind eye to the academic resources available to her for the first few months. Once she finally realized how badly she was struggling and the risk her academic career was put in, Lizet threw herself into improving her grades but continued to allow her social life to struggle. The misunderstandings her peers had of the more Latina aspects of herself ranging from her word choices to what temperature she straightened her hair at created a bridge that Lizet further burned with volatile behavior.
3. What could Lizet do, if anything, to bridge the cultural and generational gaps with her mother?
In many ways, Lizet was unable to bridge any kind of gap with her mother because of their severe lack of communication. Lizet’s mom envisioned the ideal daughter as being someone like Caridaylis, a young mother (figure) centered around her family with them being her primary concern. The modern, elite college woman was an idea completely foreign to

Get Access