Artifact 1

Paper 2

4/12/2016

The Inevitable Change in Living with Broken Love

When analyzing the two novels, Sport by Mick Cochrane and The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez, many similarities and recurring themes can be found. In both novels, the characters are faced with situations that changed their lives and their surroundings. The health and family dynamic in Harlan’s life was altered, and the Riveras were forced to move to a new country. In these new situations, people like Mayor Toro and Mr. Walker arose, sending comfort to the protagonist. The greatest love a child has comes from their parents, and when that is broken, it does tremendous damage. This left Maribel quiet and unresponsive and Harlan to seek love from a stranger. The effort to mend these relationships is apparent throughout the novels. Both characters at the end are left fatherless. By the end both The Book of Unknown Americans and Sport, the characters found themselves and learned to live the way it is, making the best of each situation, but each were transformed by their individual hardships.

One theme that is present in both stories is change. In Sport, Harlan’s mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. His father began to drink more and stay out later, eventually leaving the house and finalizing the divorce. Harlan explained how, “every spill meant something,and if she tripped, her fall foreshadowed some unspoken, inevitable mystery”(Cochrane 3). Things like this can change a family's dynamic drastically. The Rivera family moving to the United States was a journey not just for Maribel, but for the whole family. In Mexico they had a fairly good life and left it all behind for the United States. While chasing the “american dream,” the family encountered abuse, hardships, deaths and also some good people. The father went from owning a business in Mexico to picking mushrooms in America. Alma felt that Arturo was overqualified and she “wanted what we came here for” (Henriquez 27) but, that would be a long journey. Both children seeked comfort from people outside their families because of this. Harlan began spending more time with Mr. Walker, and Maribel wished to be with Mayor every chance she got.

When faced with difficult time, especially as a child, one really needs someone to be there and comfort him or her. Even though, Cochrane made Harlan’s mother prideful and independent he seeked something more. She never accepted the help but, Mr. Walker effectively stepped in and took on that father role that was lacking in Harlan’s life. He took Harlan to baseball games, coached him, and spent quality time with him. Mr. Walker continuously tried to be a part of Harlan’s life and when he made attempts his mother refuted. When Mr. Walker came to fix the window, she mocked him and when he gave Harlan a pair of sneakers, they had to be sent back. The author presented a glimpse of this father-son like relationship when one of the players said, “he gives you rides; he takes you to ball games. Has George adapted you.” In The Book of Unknown Americans, Mayor was Maribel’s comfort. Maribel opened up to Mayor, she trusted him, saying he “is the only person who sees her” (Henriquez 173). Maribel went from being stared at because of her beauty to people staring to figure out what was wrong with her. Even though the Rafael tried to keep them apart, everyone around them could see the impact Mayor had on her. Alma believes Mayor is responsible for her progression, Arturo notices that Maribel laughs for the first time since the accident and Mayor was the one who got Maribel to ice skate. Mayor saw more to Maribel than just a pretty brain damaged girl, he loved and believed in her. Mayor said “she was smarter than people gave her credit for”, even her mother which is where the disconnect came in (Henriquez 171). The fact that Maribel and Harlan had someone there to comfort them made the experience less traumatic. Harlan could have turned out like his brother, a potential alcoholic, following in his father's footsteps, who is bitter and desperate to fit in. Maribel could have stayed sheltered and never had the chance to experience life. With the help of Mr. Walker and Mayor the protagonists found their true selves.

Another recurring theme was the disconnect that seemed to be present between the two protagonists, and their parents. Harlan’s relationship with his mother progressed slowly throughout the novel. In the beginning of the book, it seemed as if the mother was not there for Harlan. She put him down a lot, did not care about his baseball and she was not there for him emotionally. As she became used to her new situation and coped with the fact that she had MS, she lightened up. On the last page of the novel, Harlan compares his mother's hands to their relationship saying, “at one time, I was afraid they’d become claws, flippers, monstrous vises. But not anymore. They were human hands” (Cochrane 246). By the end of the novel, their relationship is better, spending hours in the car together driving, listening to baseball and seemingly having a good time with one another. She did have “tough love” on Harlan though. The simplest things she turned into a lesson, as when Harlan asked her to teach him a card trick she said “no... Something’s you have to learn by yourself” (Cochrane 228). His mom wanted him to see the world for what it was. The disconnect in The Book of Unknown Americans came after Maribel’s accident when her parents smothered her, causing her to be standoffish and quiet. She was no longer a fifteen year old girl in their eyes and they wanted to try protect her at all times. Alma, Maribel’s mother, felt that she was at fault for the accident and was determined to make up for it; however, Maribel was tired of feeling like an outcast and “wanted to be like everyone else” (Henriquez 113). Instead of Alma making Maribel comfortable, she coddled her like a child ultimately pushing her away. It wasn’t until the end of the novel that Alma realized that she has to let Maribel live the life she wants and she will never be the same girl she once was. The very last sentence of Alma’s story said, “It was what I had been waiting to hear the whole time” (Henriquez 284). She just wanted to know Maribel was alright. The parents of both Harlan and Maribel took a journey throughout the novels to better understand and come to a realization with their children. They both learned to let their children be, even though Harlan's mom lacked the emotional connect and Maribels mom was overly emotional, they learned to find a happy median.

The overall theme in Sport was learning to live with broken love (Cochrane, ENG225). The love was broken between him and his mother and also between the two parents themselves. Harlan’s father was both violent and abusive, using their mother as a human punching bag. Rafael Toro also explained that he got his temper from his father when he said that “he broke the television set when he threw a vase through the screen…broke teacups...and he picked up a ham and heaved it out the window” (Henriquez 19). Abuse can really break up a family, which is apparent in Sport when the father packed a suitcase and left the house. Cochrane’s theme really became relative at the end of The Book of Unknown Americans when Alma and Maribel’s broken relationship began to mend. Alma finally learned that making the best of the situation was the only way she could be there for Maribel. Maribel was not “exactly the girl she used to be before the accident, but Alma realized that if she “stopped moving backwards, trying to recapture the past, there might be a future waiting” (Henriquez #,#). She thought she lost her daughter but Maribel had to find herself and this journey did just that.

With life comes obstacles, dealing with them is what changes a person. These characters have been through difficult scenarios, but through their journey, they found themselves and stayed true to that. In life, it's very important to understand that making the best of a situation and learning to live with it is what will get you through. However, one can not let things like this ruin a family, break relationship or tear one down. By the end of the novels, both Maribel and Harlan’s journey had taken an upward turn. Harlan had to learn how to live without and accept that his father was no longer in the home. He could have taken the negative path like Gerald, but Mr. Walker intervened. Harlan went from being a kid to a young man,true to himself and fearless. Maribel left a good live in Mexico, after her accident, she had been looked over, almost abused and talked about. When she met Mayor everything began to get better, he believed in her and did not treat her differently. Her and her mother’s journey was to get to a place of content, realizing nothing will be the same. Once her mother stopped trying to recapture the past, they can both move on and be happy. With the help of these secondary character Maribel and Harlan’s situations improved. Throughout these novels there was change, disconnect, broken love and comfort. Every character was strong, they found comfort and they found themselves, in completely different worlds from their norms.

Work Cited

Cochrane, Mick, Classroom, 2016, ENG 225

Cochrane, Mick. Sport. New York: Thomas Dunne, 2001. Print.

Henríquez, Cristina. The Book of Unknown Americans. N.p.: Vintage, 2014. Print.

Artifact 2

Professor Gansworth

Course Code: ENG225

4-12-2016

Live In a Broken World with Passion

The two novels in this case have protagonists whose lives involve the struggle to live in a hopeless world. However, their motivation keeps them going despite the difficulties. Cochrane’s Sport and Henriquez’s The Book of the Unknown American have related themes. In Sport, the main character is a young boy, Harlan Hawkins who had a difficult time growing up because he was from a broken home. It was difficult for Hawkins to be around his family, however his passion for baseball helped him forget about those problems. The characters in both novels in this case undergo difficulties. For the case of Unknown American, the story is about Latino immigrants who undergo hardships to live in America trying to secure a better future for their children.

For both novels, the passions of the characters makes them go through their difficulties well. Based on the novel, livening in a broken world is so challenging that it needs an escape. A passion such as the love for baseball is seen to be important in this case. There is a clear difference in the two novels in this case while focusing on the main characters. In Sport, the boy had a family that did not care about him while in the Unknown American the case is different because all parents wanted for their children was a better life. In Sport, the main character Harlan Hawkins is a clear example of how living in a broken world with passion works.

The young boy playing baseball in the 1960s had many problems but that did not reduce the focus on baseball. Harlan Hawkins had a mother suffering from MS, and a drunken father who left them, Hawkins’s additionally had more interest in friends more than family. This clearly shows that the boy’s family was broken. The case is different in the Unknown American because the Latino Immigrant families faced hardship but tried to make what will be best for their children. In the Book of Unknown Americans, Henriquez (2014) uses first person narration in a way that makes the book to have two main characters. The focus on this case is on Mayor Toro who was a teenage social outcast. In addition, Toro was a first generation American with his parents coming from Panama. The novel depicts the hardships that come up from being a social outcast.

The Toro family struggles to survive due to meager income. Maribel Rivera from Mexico also faces challenges and the family deals with difficulty that comes up living in a new country. A search for belonging in a world with challenges is an issue that comes up in both. However with regards to the families, the two novels are clear contrasts of each other. For the boy in Sport baseball was the key to belonging in a world. Alvarez in Unknown Americans shows the problem of being excluded from the world by saying, “we're the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they've been told they're supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize that we're not that bad, maybe even that we're a lot like them. And who would they hate then?” (Henriquez, 2014).

In Cochrane (2001) Sport the protagonist is obsessed with baseball since it his is only escape from his problems. He collects baseball cards, follows the hometown team and also plays first base in the summer league team. When his mother was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis) it shook his world. Belonging to a world basically involves love and a feeling of belonging. The families in Unknown Americans do not feel a sense of belonging while for Sport, it is mainly the boy Harlan Hawkins who does not feel a sense of belonging. In both the novels, there is a struggle for survival. George Walker in Sport plays a crucial role in shaping the passions of Harlan Hawkins which enable him to live in a broken world with passion. George Walker was a neighbor and baseball coach to Harlan. He tried to bring about stability in the life of the boy who was clearly broken.

In both novels there is contrasting of the world one is in and the world one wishes to be in. For sport, Harlan learns to love the broken world and embrace his shortcomings and focus on baseball. Harlan describes baseball as, "where miraculous comebacks were always possible, where I still knew the rules." Harlan ends up getting a local school scholarship all because of baseball showing that his passion led to a sense of belonging. Trying to make sense of the world involves challenges. This is the case for both novels. The family as a whole in Unknown Americans try to make sense of the world and make a better life for their children. It is important for individuals to find refuge in something in order to live in a broken world. The romance between two Latino teenagers is the center of the story in “The Book of Unknown Americans”. The two are Maribel Rivera from Mexico and Mayor Toro with roots from Panama. The “The Book of Unknown Americans” focuses on many characters in explaining the concept of Unknown Americans.