RRJ 1 Authors note and chapter1

1.

In authors note, Brando explained that The Madonnas Of Echo Park is a fiction he wrote to confess to

Aurora Esperanza. Brando rejected Aurora when she asked him to dance in a dancing party when they were in
second grade, because Brando, a pride boy came from a rich family, thought he should not dance with a
Mexican, who Aurora was. It was in a time that students sit in groups which were divided by races. Brando
promised to his teacher that he would apologize for the offence to Aurora, however, he had never had a chance
to make it up until 25 years later, he met her again through the help from local people. Then Brando figured out
that Aurora had never required an apology, which made him write the book to tell the stories of Aurora and also
other people around her as a confession.
In chapter1, Hector recalled the life when he was under legal drinking age in 1972 that he cheated on his
pregnant wife, Felicia, which kept them apart for a long time. Even when Hector became the only Mexican
busboy in a white restaurant, her daughter Aurora, who was educated by her mother with all negative thoughts
about her father, left Hector away after Hector slapped her cheek. The restaurant lost it lease and closed on the
day Aurora left. After fifteen years, Hector witnessed a murder when he worked as a day worked. His tenant and
tenants son murdered Hectors friend Diego and they paid Hector to dispose the murdering weapon. Knowing
he would be deported, Hector still reported the truth to the officers.
2.

When I was reading the authors note, I was curious about where did Aurora go after that spring break

and what did Brando and Aurora do after their reunion. I was wondering how the relationship between them
goes. And I do not know whether Brando was in love with Aurora. But I would like to suggest all men in the
world that never refuse a girls dance-asking because that requires a lot of braveness. When I moved on to
Chapter 1, the scene hector waited for a job reminds me of the movie called Raging Bull that Jake LaMotta in
that movie was once waited for a job exactly like what Hector had experienced. With the texts and images in my
mind, I truly connect the difficulties with my family. Though my parents have legal documents to stay in
America as immigrants, they still have difficulties to find a job because of the lack of English skills. The
similarity between the story and my family drove me to keep reading without a pause. I really felt for Hector

when he saw her daughter ran away from him and I was shocked when I knew he had not seen Aurora any more
for at least 15 years. I think the rest of the chapters should tell more stories happened in that fifteen years such
as where did Aurora go and what happened to her as an America-born-Mexican. I cannot stop connecting the
story with the authors note that may be Hector in the book is an epitome of the author while Hectors daughter.
Aurora, is the reflection of Aurora Esperanza.
3.Why the author chose Madonna as a symbol of the book? Is there any connection between the singer
Madonna and the characters in the book? I did some research on Singer Madonna, that she was confident
enough to show herself in front of the camera and she had the incredible ability to keep on space of the change
of the time. Borderline, the song when Aurora asked Brando to dance, shows the freedom of women and love. I
saw a womAn who would never live her life depending on men. However, I cannot figure out why the book is
called the Madonnas in the echo park. Who are the Madonnas here and what does it mean?
I was told by my father and also Reverence Terry, who gives Sunday Bible class in my church, that all men have
two kinds of women in their mind. One is the perfect women with beautiful appearances and hot figures that
men adore but they will never chase for. The other is women that meaningful for them and men can always get
their needs from. Men will marry the second kind of women and keep dreaming about the perfect one that they
had never chased for. When Hector was sick about Felicias body, he cheated on her by sleeping with a beautiful
lady worked in the local ice cream store, whose name is Cristina Alarcon. Is that a typical example? I am
wondering when guys meet girls that attract their attention, What do they really think in their mind?

4.

It was my first reading period when the fall semester begins, what happened at 3 o clock in the morning.

I love the silence around me which made this reading time really enjoyable. I prefer studying at night when I
cannot fall asleep, actually every time I stay up late to study, I get a better result than a daytime-learnings. The
difficulty for me is the lack of vocabulary. I am currently enrolled in ESL and I came to America in the spring of
2013. I know I still need to improve a lot especially in English so I am willing to do extra work to help myself
out, such as searching the definition of all the words that I did not know before and I wrote the definitions down

on sticky-notes that I can attach them on the book pages. And also I checked the meaning of the Spanish in the
book in order to avoid missing information. Usually I do not mark anything on the book until I read the book
several times. But I use sticky notes to mark the transition of the story.

5.

Confession a persons acknowledgement of his fault. I chose this word because this was a word I do

not know the definition and it is the emotional basis of the authors attempts to write fiction.

Bienvenido a Spanish phrase that means welcome.

This is the title of the first chapter, which I think may mean that the author welcome readers to this book. And
this chapter is more like Hectors self-introduction, where he states his history and situation in America.
Mojados - a Spanish phrase that means illegal immigrants.
This is a word that describes the people crowded in the parking lot waiting for a day job. It shows the status of
their identities. I think the story was more based on the illegal day workers and Hector himself is an illegal
immigrant.