Bad Influence | The Boundaries Between Childhood and Adulthood
In the following essay, the author explores the way the main character in "Bad Influence" negotiates the boundaries between childhood and adulthood and between New Jersey and Puerto Rico.
The collection An Island Like You opens with a poem entitled "Day in the Barrio". This poem describes life in the New Jersey neighborhood that Rita, the main character in the story "Bad Influence" calls home, a place humming with noise, people, and activity. In its color and music it is reminiscent of Puerto Rico, while in its urbanity it is entirely mainland U.S. The last four lines of the poem sum up the unifying theme of the stories that follow:
Keeping company with the pigeons, you watch the people below / Flowing in currents on the street where you live /...
[The entire page is 1810 words long]
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