Dead End
Every choice we make in life always has a consequence, whether good or bad. In Rudolfo Anaya's "Dead End", He gives a perfect example of how ones choices affect one self.
In "Dead End", Rudolfo talks about a young girl named Maria. She lives with her father, little brother and little sister. Her mother passed away leaving her with the duty of keeping her family together. Maria promised her mother she would get the proper education her mother could not obtain. Promises are very important to keep especially in this situation since it was the last thing she told her mom before her mom passed. Maria did all she could to achieve her mothers dream. She would never hang out with her friends because she would rather be home studying or doing homework.
Maria wanted to me more like her friends. She wanted to go out, have fun, drink beers and smoke weed. She found it unfair for her to stay home taking care of her brother and sister while all of her friends were out having fun. She "Envy's" her friends.
Maria likes a guy named Frankie from her school. She feels for him deeply. She thought Frankie was very "lonely". She also feels sorry for him since his girlfriend died in a car crash a year before. She wanted to kiss and hug Frankie & feel his arms hug her in his car. They meet up one night and he asked her to smoke a joint with her. She said no when she sees an image of a lady in the dark night. This is an important symbol in the story because if she would've started smoking she would've ended up like "La Llorna". "La Llorna" is a lady that got pregnant and her baby's father ran out on her. When the baby was born she drowned the baby. Now every night she wanders around crying, looking for her baby.
Maria made the correct decision. If she would've done what she wanted to, she would've ended up somewhere where she didn't want to be. She can now continue to pursue her promise that she made to her mother.
There were a few times in my life where I came across this kind of obstacle. Instead of making the correct decision like Maria, I chose the wrong ones. Instead of stopping and thinking of what I was doing and seeing where I was going to end up if I continued, I went ahead and did what I wanted.
Sooner or later in life we're all going to come across a decision that's going to change our patch in life. The key is to know what the right is from what the wrong is.