In the story, “ The Scholarship jacket”, by Marta Salinties, A girl named Martha was determined since first grade to get strait A’s so she could get the scholarship jacket that was rewarded in 8th grade to the person with the best grades. Unfortunately, some racist remarks stop the principle from giving her the jacket for free. As she perseveres and says that she is not going to pay for the jacket because if you have to pay for it then it would not be a scholarship jacket the principal agrees and gives her the jacket for free. Sometimes you can break the wall of prejudice against you when you are determined to persevere.
The story begins when Martha is determined to persevere to get the scholarship jacket because her older sister won it when she was in 8th grade and she figures that she should win it so she can pass on the tradition. Martha has been persevering since first grade to get the best grades out of all the other students so she can win the jacket in 8th grade. She assumes she is going to win because she has strait A’s in every subject since 1st grade.
As the story goes on Martais about to go into her classroom to get something that she forgot , but then when she gets there she hears her teachers fighting about who gets the scholarship jacket. She quickly hides behind the wall so they won’t see her, luckily they didn’t. Then, one of Martha’s teachers says “Martha should get the jacket because she is the student with the best grades overall. Then, her other teacher says “Look, Joann’s father is not only on the board, he also owns the only store in town and well, Martha is Mexican” The other teacher rushed out the room and luckily didn’t see Martha. Martha wait’s a few minutes to pull her self together and slowly walks in. She gathers her stuff without saying a word to the teacher and then heads back to the gym for P.E. When she got home that night she cried in her pillow for hours because of all the prejudice remarks that they said about her.
The next day when she goes to school she gets called over to the principal’s office. When she gets there the principal says that this year the scholarship jacket is not free like it used to be. This year you would have to pay $15.00 to get the jacket. If you can not get the money then we would have to give it to the next person in line. Marta says, “I will ask my grandfather for the money when I get home from school I promise that I will tell you an answer by tomorrow” On her way back home she kept on worrying and crying. When she gets home she asks her grandpa if she could have the money for the scholarship jacket. Grandpa says, “No, because if you pay for it, it wont be a scholar ship jacket? Tell your principal I will not pay for the jacket” The next day she goes to the principal and says, “My grandfather says that he will not pay for the scholarship jacket, he says if you pay for it won’t be a scholarship jacket.” Martha starts to walks out of the room, Then her principal says, “Wait Martha!” Martha turns around and listens. “Martha we will make an exception for the jacket. I will tell the board you will be getting it.”
In conclusion, Martha gets the jacket because she was stronger then the prejudice they had against her, and she gained respect from the teachers and students in the school.