A blog devoted to Chae Sweet's ENG073 course at Hudson County Community College. Students will discuss "Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx."
Group members: Brittany Lett Maria Estrellado Sandy Andre
Summary -Brittany Lett
The chapter begins with Coco’s pregnancy by a boy named Wishman. She is not in a stable living condition. She keeps moving from tenement to tenement with her 3 children. She gets into a fight with a neighbor and she’s forced to move because of the neighbor’s crazy boyfriend. The new place she moved to was a dump. As the chapter goes on, Coco and her mom had a big fight over Foxy’s new boyfriend, Herman. Coco thought Herman was spending extremely too much time with her. Coco sent two of her kids to Milagros’s house and the other one to her father’s house. Coco began sleeping with Wishman again. While they were having intercourse, Coco began to bleed and an ambulance was called. As a result, she had to have a C- section. She had a sick premature baby girl, and she named her Pearl. As she looked at Pearl, She began to question herself if Wishman was a crack head or not. She wanted to know why God did this to her baby. After Coco leaves the hospital, she moves to a place called Troy. She thinks she can start on the right foot in this new place that was far from home. She left her children’s important paper work in the Bronx. She lets Foxy take care of Pearl in the hospital. As time goes by, Coco met a boy named Frankie. They began to date, and soon moved in together. He accepts Coco and her children. In prison, Cesar married Giselle. He didn’t marry her out of love, but for access to conjugal visits, and he needed a girl who could be relied on to visit and to keep money coming into his commissary account. He would occasionally get visits from Coco. Later, Mercedes gets baptized. Mercedes and Frankie don’t get along. She’s the only child, other than the new born, to not call Frankie dad. She wants Cesar to be in their lives. Jessica and Serena stays in touch with Coco. Jessica is having an affair with a prison guard named Torres. She becomes pregnant and is forced to move to another facility. Torres gets suspended from his job. Her children came to visit her one day. Jessica soon finds out that she’s having twin boys, Matthew and Michael. Jessica started to become suicidal due to losing Torres, her twins being far from her, and Matthew’s (Jessica’s new boyfriend) affair with Elaine. Her family stops paying her visits. She gets sent to solitary for disobeying orders. She becomes depressed. Mercedes began to act disrespectful towards others. Pearl came home from the hospital. Coco is almost kicked out of her home due to Frankie and his friends‘ loud music, drug use, etc. He still hangs at her place even though she signed a deal that Frankie was to never come in her home again. Coco goes to see Cesar to tell him in person that Mercedes has genital warts. Coco is having a breakdown. The doctor also told her that Mercedes was probably molested. She sends the girls to camp, so she can save them from bad behaviors. She believes this experience can help change both Nikki and Mercedes for the better. Furthermore, Jessica is sent to a rehabilitation program. She begins to attend meetings for depression. She starts to learn how to talk about her issues. One evening, Milagros embraces Coco in bed. This jeopardizes their friendship because Coco feels awkward near Milagros. The girls came back from camp, but Mercy’s new kind attitude didn’t last long. Coco breaks up with Frankie because he began to change, and he shoved her.
Two Pivotal Scenes -Sandy Andre
The two pivotal scenes in pages 204- 276 are the birth of Pearl and the encounter with Coco and Frankie. These two scenes are important because they changed Coco’s life in Troy. The birth of Pearl was unexpected at the time. She had a C- section, and the three months premature baby could fit into the palm of a hand. In Pearl’s condition, Coco wondered if Wishman was using drugs. He assured her that he only smoked weed. After six months in the hospital, Foxy offered to take care of Pearl. She brought equipment with her to keep her in stable condition and instructions that came along with handling her case, pg 219. In due time, Coco took Pearl in. She was overwhelmed by the constant surveillance Pearl needed. She had asthma, and needed to take three treatments a day. She needed an oxygen tank, and Coco had to lug it around wherever she takes Pearl. Pearl even vomits daily, sometimes ten times a day. There was an incident where Pearl turned blue, and Milagros had to perform CPR on her before taking her to the hospital, pg 254. This effected her way of living. Coco had less freedom; once she had to stay home for four days straight with no chance of stepping outside. Frankie also had a place in Coco’s life. He was a drug dealer from the Bronx, and had just separated with his son’s mother when he met Coco. He said that he wanted to be with Coco, and she took him in her house. She liked the fact that he spent time with her daughters, and that he was nice to them. Her daughters were already calling him Papi, all except Mercedes who hung onto Cesar. She felt safer when he was around, and he will do things for her on valentine’s day. He often helped around the house and gave Pearl her treatments. He was a father figure in the beginning, but as time went on, Frankie was just taking space in Coco’s home. “Drugs change boys, and Frankie was becoming less like the boy she’s settled for and like other boys she knew.” (pg243) He would bring his friends over and use drugs when her kids were around. His visits were now often rather than daily. She suspected he was involved with other women when he said he was going camping. He was possessive when he didn’t have a job or weed to distract him. She thought he was the man that was going to stick with her to the end, but when he began living with her, she started to see that he may not be the one after all.
Themes -Maria Estrellado
The theme that is being presented from pages 204-276 is mainly about wanting to be loved. An example of this is Jessica wanting to be loved by her own mother. This can be found on page 238. Lourdes has only visited Jessica twice during her four years of being in prison. Jessica was harsh to Lourdes, but she only wanted her mother’s love and attention. Lourdes was getting ready to leave to go to a doctor’s appointment to see a social worker. As a response, Jessica told her not to go and that she could talk to her instead of a social worker. Lourdes gave in and stayed. She asked Jessica to do her hair and they talked. When it was time for Lourdes to leave, Lourdes stood on top of a hill outside of the facility to wait for Jessica to appear in a window. While she was waiting, she put on a bracelet with the word LOVE on it. Putting the bracelet on was a sign of Jessica and Lourdes getting their love for each other back. When Jessica appeared at the window, they both waved at each other but Lourdes waved until she couldn’t see her daughter anymore. Another theme is depression. Depression can be found through out pages 204- 276. Coco was very much depressed. So much was going on with her and her kids. Coco is always crying. This can be found on page 243 and on page 252. Pearl has come home from the hospital and has to have 3 treatments for her sever asthma, Mercedes had warts, which might have been caused from someone molesting her, and Coco was short on money. Coco has also continued to pick on her face. Jessica was also depressed. On page 240, Jessica was thinking of committing suicide. She wanted to be escape everything and to be noticed by others at the same time. Jessica demanded to get screened for a bipolar disorder and medications from prison medicals. After getting medications, she fought against it. All she wanted was to be with her children.
I'm a writing professor at Hudson County Community College. I have been teaching here for about 10 years, and I love working with the eclectic bunch of students I meet each semester.
2 comments:
Random Family, pgs 204-276
Group members:
Brittany Lett
Maria Estrellado
Sandy Andre
Summary
-Brittany Lett
The chapter begins with Coco’s pregnancy by a boy named Wishman. She is not in a stable living condition. She keeps moving from tenement to tenement with her 3 children. She gets into a fight with a neighbor and she’s forced to move because of the neighbor’s crazy boyfriend. The new place she moved to was a dump. As the chapter goes on, Coco and her mom had a big fight over Foxy’s new boyfriend, Herman. Coco thought Herman was spending extremely too much time with her. Coco sent two of her kids to Milagros’s house and the other one to her father’s house. Coco began sleeping with Wishman again. While they were having intercourse, Coco began to bleed and an ambulance was called. As a result, she had to have a C- section. She had a sick premature baby girl, and she named her Pearl. As she looked at Pearl, She began to question herself if Wishman was a crack head or not. She wanted to know why God did this to her baby.
After Coco leaves the hospital, she moves to a place called Troy. She thinks she can start on the right foot in this new place that was far from home. She left her children’s important paper work in the Bronx. She lets Foxy take care of Pearl in the hospital. As time goes by, Coco met a boy named Frankie. They began to date, and soon moved in together. He accepts Coco and her children. In prison, Cesar married Giselle. He didn’t marry her out of love, but for access to conjugal visits, and he needed a girl who could be relied on to visit and to keep money coming into his commissary account. He would occasionally get visits from Coco.
Later, Mercedes gets baptized. Mercedes and Frankie don’t get along. She’s the only child, other than the new born, to not call Frankie dad. She wants Cesar to be in their lives. Jessica and Serena stays in touch with Coco.
Jessica is having an affair with a prison guard named Torres. She becomes pregnant and is forced to move to another facility. Torres gets suspended from his job. Her children came to visit her one day. Jessica soon finds out that she’s having twin boys, Matthew and Michael. Jessica started to become suicidal due to losing Torres, her twins being far from her, and Matthew’s (Jessica’s new boyfriend) affair with Elaine. Her family stops paying her visits. She gets sent to solitary for disobeying orders. She becomes depressed.
Mercedes began to act disrespectful towards others. Pearl came home from the hospital. Coco is almost kicked out of her home due to Frankie and his friends‘ loud music, drug use, etc. He still hangs at her place even though she signed a deal that Frankie was to never come in her home again. Coco goes to see Cesar to tell him in person that Mercedes has genital warts. Coco is having a breakdown. The doctor also told her that Mercedes was probably molested.
She sends the girls to camp, so she can save them from bad behaviors. She believes this experience can help change both Nikki and Mercedes for the better.
Furthermore, Jessica is sent to a rehabilitation program. She begins to attend meetings for depression. She starts to learn how to talk about her issues. One evening, Milagros embraces Coco in bed. This jeopardizes their friendship because Coco feels awkward near Milagros. The girls came back from camp, but Mercy’s new kind attitude didn’t last long. Coco breaks up with Frankie because he began to change, and he shoved her.
Two Pivotal Scenes
-Sandy Andre
The two pivotal scenes in pages 204- 276 are the birth of Pearl and the encounter with Coco and Frankie. These two scenes are important because they changed Coco’s life in Troy. The birth of Pearl was unexpected at the time. She had a C- section, and the three months premature baby could fit into the palm of a hand. In Pearl’s condition, Coco wondered if Wishman was using drugs. He assured her that he only smoked weed.
After six months in the hospital, Foxy offered to take care of Pearl. She brought equipment with her to keep her in stable condition and instructions that came along with handling her case, pg 219. In due time, Coco took Pearl in. She was overwhelmed by the constant surveillance Pearl needed. She had asthma, and needed to take three treatments a day. She needed an oxygen tank, and Coco had to lug it around wherever she takes Pearl. Pearl even vomits daily, sometimes ten times a day. There was an incident where Pearl turned blue, and Milagros had to perform CPR on her before taking her to the hospital, pg 254. This effected her way of living. Coco had less freedom; once she had to stay home for four days straight with no chance of stepping outside.
Frankie also had a place in Coco’s life. He was a drug dealer from the Bronx, and had just separated with his son’s mother when he met Coco. He said that he wanted to be with Coco, and she took him in her house. She liked the fact that he spent time with her daughters, and that he was nice to them. Her daughters were already calling him Papi, all except Mercedes who hung onto Cesar. She felt safer when he was around, and he will do things for her on valentine’s day. He often helped around the house and gave Pearl her treatments. He was a father figure in the beginning, but as time went on, Frankie was just taking space in Coco’s home. “Drugs change boys, and Frankie was becoming less like the boy she’s settled for and like other boys she knew.” (pg243) He would bring his friends over and use drugs when her kids were around. His visits were now often rather than daily. She suspected he was involved with other women when he said he was going camping. He was possessive when he didn’t have a job or weed to distract him. She thought he was the man that was going to stick with her to the end, but when he began living with her, she started to see that he may not be the one after all.
Themes
-Maria Estrellado
The theme that is being presented from pages 204-276 is mainly about wanting to be loved. An example of this is Jessica wanting to be loved by her own mother. This can be found on page 238. Lourdes has only visited Jessica twice during her four years of being in prison. Jessica was harsh to Lourdes, but she only wanted her mother’s love and attention. Lourdes was getting ready to leave to go to a doctor’s appointment to see a social worker. As a response, Jessica told her not to go and that she could talk to her instead of a social worker. Lourdes gave in and stayed. She asked Jessica to do her hair and they talked. When it was time for Lourdes to leave, Lourdes stood on top of a hill outside of the facility to wait for Jessica to appear in a window. While she was waiting, she put on a bracelet with the word LOVE on it. Putting the bracelet on was a sign of Jessica and Lourdes getting their love for each other back. When Jessica appeared at the window, they both waved at each other but Lourdes waved until she couldn’t see her daughter anymore.
Another theme is depression. Depression can be found through out pages 204- 276. Coco was very much depressed. So much was going on with her and her kids. Coco is always crying. This can be found on page 243 and on page 252. Pearl has come home from the hospital and has to have 3 treatments for her sever asthma, Mercedes had warts, which might have been caused from someone molesting her, and Coco was short on money. Coco has also continued to pick on her face. Jessica was also depressed. On page 240, Jessica was thinking of committing suicide. She wanted to be escape everything and to be noticed by others at the same time. Jessica demanded to get screened for a bipolar disorder and medications from prison medicals. After getting medications, she fought against it. All she wanted was to be with her children.
Thanks, Sandy. You did a really good job on typing this group posting.I hope we get a good grade.
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