Geraldo No Last Name

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WRTG 101 14 July 2014 “Geraldo No Last Name” a vignette and an excerpt from The House on Mango Street. In this vignette, the main protagonist Marin meets a boy named Geraldo while dancing. Geraldo becomes the victim of a hit and run car accident and is taken to the hospital where he later dies. Marin, who accompanies Geraldo to the hospital, is left distraught both by the accident itself and the experiences she has after the fact and is faced with some unexpected realizations about the society she lives in. Sandra Cisneros’ portrayal of Marin and Geraldo give insights to her own childhood experiences as well to the plight of Chicano's and Chicana's in America. As the story unfolds it is clear that Marin still retains some of the shelter offered by youth. “Marin, she goes to all those dances. Uptown. Logan. Embassy. Palmer. Aragon. Fontana. The Mannor. She Likes to dance” (Cisneros 2). Marin is free to go to all the dances because she is not yet weighed down by the responsibilities of being an adult. Geraldo is simply someone she danced with and that is enough for her. This youthful innocence is shattered in short order as Marin witnesses Geraldo's untimely passing and the meager efforts to save, identify, and notify his family. Marin's distraught attitude at the death of Geraldo is not simply a result of knowing someone who died, but also at the indifference with which the whole affair seems to be handled. The fact that she spent “hours and hours” (Cisneros 4) and Marin's statements of “And maybe if the surgeon would’ve come, maybe if he hadn’t lost so much blood, if the surgeon had only come, they would know who to notify and where.” (4) allude to the fact that Geraldo's death was not inevitable. Rather, it seems that there is no sense of urgency as the surgeon never even bothers to show up. So too, the line of questioning Marin experiences,
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