There are a couple of reasons that Elena likes Eugene. First, he lives in the house next to her tenement building and is living the life that she wants. She dreams of sitting at the kitchen table in his house to read and to eat like the older couple who lived there before. She dreams of a time when she can have a backyard to lounge in and soak up the sun; so, becoming his friend might give her access to realizing those dreams. But it's not just his house that entices her to befriend Eugene. Elena also doesn't have any friends at Public School Number 13. The majority of students at school are African American and they tease her for being Puerto Rican. She hopes that making a friend of the new boy might give her some happiness and joy at school, too. Elena even says the following:
"There was only one source of beauty and light for me that school year--the only thing I had anticipated at the start of the semester. That was seeing Eugene . . . I liked him right away because he sat at the kitchen table and read books for hours."
Elena therefore likes Eugene because he represents a new opportunity for her to have a friend at school, he likes to read books at his kitchen table, and he was living her dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment