The Russell Stover Box by Julia Alvarez
Tia rings a silver bell, and Adela comes out and clears all the plates, and brings dessert, which always includes the Russell Stover box with the painted-on bow. When the box gets around, you have to figure out by eyesight alone which one you think will have the nut inside or caramel or coconut, hoping that you won't be surprised when you bite in by some squishy center you want to spit out ... The Russell Stover box has gone all the way around to Tia, who takes out one of the little papery molds, and sighs when the kids argue about who will get it. Tio Vic comes out, grinning, and ruffles Mundin's hair, puts his hand on Tia's shoulder and asks the whole table, "So who wants to go to New York? Who wants to see the Empire State Building?" ... Tentatively Carla, and then Sandi, and then Lucinda raise their hands. Like a chain reaction, hand after hand goes up, some still holding Russell Stover chocolates. "Me, me, I want to go, I want to go!" ... When all are quiet, waiting for him to pick the winners, he looks down at Tia Carmen beside him and says, "How about it, Carmen? Wanna go?" And the kids all chant, "Yes, Tia, yes!" Carla, too, until she notes that her aunt's hands are shaking as she fits th
e lid on the empty Russell Stover box. Yolanda on the other hand, began just as her family had, but in the end, she made a mad dash back to the island. In the beginning, she was excited about the prospect of going to the United States. She finally got to see snow in all its wonders. She read tons of books and had a great education in prestigious schools. What's there left for her to see? Yolanda believes that she has done and seen everything in the United States that there is too see. She is a grown woman now and the only thing that the United States has left for her is a world with emptiness inside of it - an empty box. The last line of the passage above is a great indication on what happened in to the Garcia family. On arrival, they realized that the United States held nothing more than broken promises for them. Here is a world where chaos ran rampant. Children were disobedient, wives talked back to their husbands and men didn't have control over their wives. Here was a place where the rich didn't always get richer and the poor stayed poor. Mami and Papi learned that in order to succeed in the United States, you have to strike when the iron was hot. Waiting around could cost you money in the end. The Russell Stover box represents all of the probing that we do throughout life. We are
Some common words found in the essay are:
Russell Stover, Carla Sandi, Coming America, Mami Papi, Box Tia, Yes Tia, Tio Vic, Sandi Lucinda, russell stover, russell stover box, stover box, Carmen Wanna, box russell, box russell stover, Tia Carmen, carla sandi, russell stover chocolates, de la, united held, stover chocolates, garcia de la, la torre, de la torre, mami papi, left empty,
Approximate Word count = 884
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
