American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer 6.2: Oral Presentation. By: Lisdey Perez.

I chose American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer. It’s a story about a teenage girl that lived in New Jersey. She was from Puerto Rico and lived in a building that was referred to as El Building. Most of the tenants there were recently arrived immigrants from Puerto Rico. In El building the constant sound of loud music, the cursing of the unemployed and the screeching of children were normal but on the day that President Kennedy was killed all those sounds were silence.

The girl remembers that she was in ninth grade in her physical education class playing outside in the cold playing jump rope. She had forgotten her gloves and her hand were red and raw from the jump rope. She recalls being abuse by the black girls for not turning the rope hard and fast for them. She hated her school and her skinny flat-chest body. She envied the girls who could jump rope so fast that their legs became a blur. Then the new semester was about to start and she was forward to it. A new boy named Eugene was to start school at the same time. Eugene and his family had moved to a house in her block where she could see him from her room in El Building.

The people that lived there before were an old couple that she would watch for hours while reading her books. She knew when they would argue because the man would leave the kitchen table and the lady would sit there staring at space. When one was sick the other would go to the kitchen and carry them out in a tray. The old man died in June on the last week of school she did not see him at the table at all. Then one day there was a big crowd at the house. The old lady was taken to another place by the family. The flowers that she had taken care of so much were overtaken by weeds.

When school began she searched for him and while asking questions she discovered that he was in honor classes. Those classes were not opened to her because English was not her first language. She intentionally ran into him by his locker or in study hall at the library. When he first saw her he did not speak. Finally on the way home one day she decided to approach him directly even though she was nervous. She was ready for rejection or worst. However, when she approached him and she said “You’re Eugene right”? He smiled and blushed. He was shy and liked her. In the weeks that followed they walked home together. He would linger by her building a few minutes and then go to his two story house. She noticed that the only place in his yard that the sun would hit during the day was where the old lady had planted the flowers. El building covered the rest of the house from the sun.

One day while she was staring at Eugene through her window her mother walked into her room. She saw in her face that look of being in love. Her mother went to tell her that she had to be more a young lady now and have morals and virtues. Those subjects did not interest Elena at all. Her mother was unhappy because they were living in Patterson but her father had a good job in the blue jean factory. He would keep assuring them that they would be moving out into their own house. They would drive to the suburbs on Sundays where she would listen to her parent’s dreams as fairy tales, much like the stories about life in Puerto Rico before she was born. After meeting Eugene she began to think of the present more than the future. Instead of thinking about going to college and become a teacher. She was now thinking about how to enter the house that she had watched for so many years. She wanted to see the other rooms not just the kitchen. She just wanted to sit in the kitchen table with Eugene just like the old couple that lived there before had done. She wanted to ask Eugene about Georgia the place setting for the book ‘Gone with the wind’ that she was now reading. At school Eugene was called the Hick and all the kids made fun of the way he talked. Elena was the only friend he had.

Elena’s PE teacher came out to the cold and asked the kids to line up before him. There two rows of kids stood before Mr. de Palma, mostly black and Puerto Ricans kids. To the students surprise he was crying. He raised his arm as to direct an orchestra. His voice broke and someone in the back row giggles. He repeated “Listen, something awful has happened” he turned and spat someone made a wise crack. “The president is dead, you idiots. I should have known that wouldn’t mean anything to you losers. Go Home” The kids ran out to get theirs books by the wall. On that day Elena was to visit Eugene’s house. He had asked her to go by to study for an exam on American History. They would go to the library also. As Elena was getting ready for her visit and told her mother she was going to study at a friend’s house. The mother replied” You are going out today?” she grabbed her by the arm and asked her to go to church with her. That the president had been killed and they needed to show their respect.

Elena knocked on the door softly and after a few moments the door cracked open. The red, swollen face of a woman appeared. “What do you want?” a tiny voice said in an unfriendly tone. Elena replied “I’m Eugene’s friend. He asked me over to study. The voice said “You live there” pointing to El Building. The woman stepped halfway out the door and said” Eugene doesn’t want to study with you. He is a smart boy. He doesn’t need help. You understand me. I am truly sorry if he told you that could come over. He cannot study with you. It’s nothing personal. You understand? We won’t be in this place much longer; no need for him to get close to people- it’ll just make it harder for him later. Run Back home now.” Elena was in a trance while all that was being said in such a honey-drenched voice with the accent as Eugene’s. She just could not move. She snapped out of her trance and turned away from the green door and heard it close behind her. When she got home the apartment was empty. Her mother was at someone else’s house seeking comfort. Her father got there late that night. She would hear them talk softly in the kitchen that night but not about their dreams. But about the young widow and the two children as if they were family. The next few days in El building there was no loud music and some of the women wore black. That night Elena lay crying in her bed, but the tears were not for the death of the president.