MaryJean Stefanelli English 108 Essay #3 DeVry University

Does the space people live in define who they are; does it define their culture and social class? It all depends on how they see it. How they see themselves. The three essays that are here all having a few things in common, space, culture and social class. I will be explaining why your space relates to all of those things. I dont believe that your space should define you but some people see it that way. In Westburry Court, Danticat lives in Flatbush Brooklyn. She lives in a six-story apartment building. It doesnt have the best heat and hot water. Nor is the elevator always there when the door opens. Theres tons of graffiti and trash piled up going sky high for miles. Fires were started, people got shot and robbed, but Danticat didnt see it like that she saw it as a castle. That was her space. Danticat was of Haitian decent and according to citydata.com over 75% of that area is some type of African American. In addition to that most of the people who lived in that building werent too wealthy. Thats how the fire started. The fire was started by the two boys, after their mother stepped out to pick up some groceries at the supermarket down the street. They had been playing with matches. (Pg78/79) A single mom, she probably didnt have anyone to watch them. Danticat felt as if she was lucky because her parents have more money then many of the people in the building but even then Danticat still had to watch her three brothers alone afterschool. I couldnt help but wonder, would our parents have suffered the same fate had it been my brothers and me who were killed in that fire? Coinciding with that, Coffer was from Puerto Rico and moved to Paterson, NJ because her father was in the Navy and wanted to better life for his family. His wife was only twenty years old with two children. Her father longed for them to move from the barrio, because it was becoming an ethnic turnover. But that was really the only place

they can go. For example, You Cuban? One man asked my father, pointing at his name tag on the Navy uniform- even though my father had the fair skin and light-brown hair if his northern Spanish background, and the name Ortiz is as common in Puerto Rico as Johnson in the U.S. No, my father had answered looking past the finger into his adversarys angry eyes. Im Puerto Rican. Same shit. And the door closed (pg59) . Goes to show you at one time Paterson was Jewish and it was changing and people didnt like it. But eventually Paterson became predominantly Hispanic. So this is why people will stick you in a certain category just because of where your from or your ethnicity but most importantly, how much money one has. Its wrong but thats what your space does sometimes. Thats why Coffers father tried his hardest not to fit in with the community On the other hand Coffers mother loved El Building. She found it like home, except for the beehive living. But she loved the aroma of red kidney beans and rice. She could hear Salsa music being played at all hours of the day. But most important of all she loved the hole in the wall grocery store La Bodega. Where there were Goya products which were one of the two only products that her mom trusted. But she did shop at some retail stores too. But a lot of the Puerto Rican women shopped only close to home on the blocks in the small stores. We never ran into other Latinos at these stores or when eating out, and it became clear to me only years later that the women from El building shopped mainly in other places-stored owned by other Puerto Ricans or by Jewish Merchants who had philosophically accepted our presence in the city and decided to make us their best customers. (62) In stating that that area got defined for mainly Hispanics thats why all the stores consisted of Hispanic products and owners.

Lastly, It All Just Went Away written by Oates is a totally different space. She lives in Lock Port, NY. Thats basically the middle of nowhere. Nothing, but woods farms, big houses, acres of land, so much abandoned land. But like Danticat Oates doesnt see it as ugly she thinks its the most gob smacking thing she ever seen. Until the age of twelve or thirteen , my most intense, happiest hours were spent tramping desolate fields, woods, and creek banks near my familys farmhouse in Millersport, New York. Oates loved her space. Comparing, just like Danticat, Oates neighborhood wasnt to wealthy either. Theyre family lives with many of them in a slowly failing farmhouse. Their neighbors the Weildels rent the farm house about a mile away through welfare. No one in the family worked accept for the mother. The father was a drunk who beat his wife and kids. No one ever actually seen but the looks of his house, and the money he has made everyone think it was true ( they might not have said that but you can get the ongoing concept) beside the fact that Mrs. Weidele had came out the house with black eyes. Wrapping this up, your space will define you if you let it. Mr. Weidele let his space define him. He really did beat his wife and kids and was a drunk. Coffers father wasnt going to let his space define him. He made his family shop in the city center and not associate with anyone from El building. Danticat didnt let her space define her because she didnt like her space. Her space just happened to define the neighborhood.