Compare and Contrast, from Cholos to Surfers and My Latino Heart
The connections in these two stories is that in Mr. Lopez story is that a young boy is troubled because he is not sure on what being a “Mexican” is all about, and that ties in with what is California image really trying to say. The next story “Of Cholos and Surfers” is a depiction of a young boy also, but he is having trouble trying to break out of the tradition of being a normal “Mexican” and do what he is more comfortable doing. In the story of “My Latino Heart” it is about a young teenager who is having trouble finding what the Mexican culture is all about.
He is not sure on how to fit in with his Mexican culture. The identity of his culture is hard for him to comprehend. He asked his mother “ What am I”. His mother answered “ You’re a Mexican American” He replied “ But what does that mean”. He couldn’t didn’t know what his parents were trying to tell him. He did not think he was Mexican because he couldn’t speak the Spanish. He wanted to have a answer to his question. He went to his Aunt and asked her what it meant to be a Mexican American. His Aunt replied “ You’re you”.
Again he was not sure of what this meant? He didn’t get another opportunity to ask his Aunt again because she had died of alcoholism. When the family had a gathering he shied away from the younger parts of his family, and went to the adults to see what his Aunt was really like when she was alive and didn’t drink. He could get a sense of what being a Mexican meant. Remembering the people that had died and to never forget them. To think of the good things about the person and to credit them for their influence they had in his life.
Also in the lives that she had contact with long enough to make a difference in their lives. In the story “Of Cholos and Surfers” this teenage boy depicted by the author Jack Lopez, was a boy who lived in a Mexican family in the Los Angeles area. His family was a family who kept their roots, and never forgot where they came from. Also there were two sides of the neighborhood were they grew up. You were either a cholo or a surfer. This young teenage boy had more of a interest in the surfer lifestyle. He wanted to be a surfer so bad that he wore clothes that the surfers would wear.
His family would not allow to him to have his hair down to his ears. His friends in junior high where Sheldon Cohen and Tom Gheridelli. They were both surfers. He naturally became good friends with them because they had the same interest. He wanted to buy a surfer magazine that cost forty-five dollars. He would read Surfer Quarterly, and other surfer magazines with his friends at Sportsman Park under the bleachers. Him and his dad made an agreement that his dad would take him to get a magazine in Vermont.
When he and his dad arrived in Vermont they got the magazine his father looked at him and said “ Is that it? ”. He didn’t believe that his son was serious about getting the magazine. When his father got to the counter to pay for the magazine, the clerk and his dad were poking fun at the magazine in Spanish. In these stories starting with “My Latino Heart” and the California myth of a glamorous life is this; in this story, this young boy wants to know what it means to be a Latino/Mexican. He asks’ his Aunt, his father, and his mother on what it means to be Mexican.
He has to go to through a journey and figure out on what this Mexican culture is all about. n the story “ Of Cholos and Surfers” the similarities of this story to that of the California dream is this. This young boy wanted something more out of his life. He did not think that the life of a cholo was the right life for him. He wanted to do something that he thought would have purpose and that made sense to him, and something that would make him succeed. Even though his parents did not like the idea. He was willing to make that dream come true.
