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Marta animal in english6/6/2023 ![]() Esperanza is a Spanish-speaking immigrant, while Marta was born in the U.S. How else are the girls different? Well, Esperanza grew up in luxury, while Marta had to work her way through her entire life. (Check out our discussion of "Setting" for more about the Mexican Revolution.) That means Marta probably would have been raised to resent wealthy Mexican landowners like Esperanza's dad. (6)ĭude, what is this girl's problem? Well, it turns out Marta's dad was a revolutionary who fought on the side of the poor in Mexico. "What's the matter, silver spoon stuck in your mouth?" Her voice was smart and biting. "So you're a princess who's come to be a peasant? Where's all your finery?"Įsperanza stared at her and said nothing. The girls do not get off to a good start, to say the very least: Marta is a bit of a Mean Girl, who makes fun of Esperanza for growing up wealthy and for not knowing how to do housework. ![]() Marta and Esperanza could not be more different. ![]() They'll take the kitten route, thank you very much. They tell Marta to chill: "That is a chance we cannot take. But this is a very unpopular message at Esperanza's camp, where the workers just want to keep their heads down and hang onto their jobs. Marta is constantly trying to convince other workers to be as brave as she is and join her and her friends in the strike. One thing is clear-Marta is no meek kitten. "With no decent home and at the mercy of those bigger than us, richer than us?" (8.57) If we don't ask for what is rightfully ours, we will never get it! Is this how we want to live?" She held the kitten by the back of the neck, waving it high in the air. And that is how they treat us because we don't speak up. Look at this speech that she gives in front of a crowd of Mexican laborers (using a small, fuzzy kitten as an illustration*): She helps organize strikes against the big farmers, arguing that it's the only way to make sure the workers are treated fairly and paid decently. She's just a kid, maybe sixteen or seventeen, but this girl has some serious political convictions, and she's not afraid to speak her mind.
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