Answer:
4. In the church scenario, Connie clearly values her friends and reputation above her grandma. She was "indifferent" and "ashamed" of her. She is old but not a fool, so she clearly feels her granddaughter's actions. Connie's grandmother gets lost in the church, but she is "ashamed" of her, especially that she "can't move to go get her" and fears "senile-grandmother jokes" from her allies and enemies. Thus, for the remainder of their time together, Abuela would not look at or talk to Connie because she knows that her own granddaughter made her feel like nothing.
5. Setting the story in a church symbolizes the role of respecting others, especially older people, which is a catholic tradition. Connie is supposed to respect and help her grandmother, but she does not. That is the reason she got eyes staring at her. People stared at her because she did not take care of her grandmother and guide her, not because she was walking around the church lost. This is an indication that Connie is treating her grandmother wrong.
"But the next time I look up, I see a black coat dragging around and around the church, stopping here and there so a little gray head can peek out like a periscope on a submarine. There are giggles in the church, and even the priest has frozen in the middle of a blessing, his hands above his head like he is about to lead the congregation in a set of jumping jacks."
6. Connie's actions made Abuela feel useless, as she said it when they got home. Connie learned that she did not respect her grandmother by ignoring her and making her feel like a stranger. This realization can be seen when she thought, "I think I understand how I made Abuela feel." In general, this means that Connie needs to show her grandma affection and respect going forward. The story of Abuela Invents the Zero depicts values of family and respect to older people. "Your grandmother says to tell you that of all the hurtful things you can do to a person, the worst is to make them feel as if they are worth nothing."
Explanation:
Answers 4 to 6
1. Examine the title of the story and reread the first paragraph. What symbol do you predict will be central to the theme?
Titles and Symbols are one of the most important parts of a story. In this story, the title is “Abuela invents the zero”. The tidal here tells us a little bit about what the story is mainly about, “Her grandma invents zero”. In the first few paragraphs you already know why the author named the book “Abuela invents the zero”. In the first sentence the grandma (Abuela) says “you made me feel like a zero, like a nothing”. In that part of the story, you can infer that she already invented a zero, by saying she felt like a nothing.
This story already has a symbol. Once you read it, there is a symbol in this book. The symbol, I think, is the zero. Some evidence I have is that the title literally has the word zero and they literally almost start the whole book with the word zero.
: Text to Text connection
The book, Winter Hibiscus had the symbol Hibiscus which ties into the theme of hope, confident. This story has the symbol: Zero. This zero connects to the theme which I think is “respect your family”. To back that theme up, we have the first sentence that says “you made me feel like a zero, like a nothing. Clearly you could see that the grandma (Abuela)is very mad at someone who made her feel like nothing at all.
2. Read the yellow highlighted details, in which Connie shares her thoughts about her grandmother. Based on these details, how would you describe Connie? Explain.
The yellow highlighted part is telling like a flashback about Connie’s feeling and when her grandma came to the United States. This part also is a part where she shares her feelings with the reader, telling them how she feels about Abuela coming to America.
To be honest, Connie feels “Frustrated” or even “Angry” when Abuela decides to come to town. The text provided some details that I took into consideration. One part of the Sentence is “Pick up the old lady”. To me, I think it is pretty rude to call someone an old lady. Yet later she says that she’s really no monster when her mom said that be nice to your grandma.
Though there is something I could infer about the part when her mom said that to be nice to your grandma. In the story, they did mention that the grandma visited at least 4-5 times. Maybe, when one of the times she visited, Connie was being mean to her. Her mom may be warning her not to be like that to your grandma again.
3. What generational conflicts might arise for Connie during her grandmother’s visit? Explain.
Conflicts are one of the most important things once you dig in deeper into the story. In this story, clearly the conflict is conflicts with others (Her grandma). Throughout the story, Connie tries to ignore/ Avoid her Grandma so she won’t be noticed and get very embarrassed.
Example down below
“I try to walk a far distance away from Grandma so no one knows that we are together”
This part shows me that Connie is really just ignoring her Grandma in Public. This thing also Ties in with the symbol of the story: Zero. In the point that, She’s trying to put grandma out of the way. Make her lonely and make her feel that she is really nothing to her.
One of the conflicts may be that Grandma is feeling really lonely and like a zero, which she gets super mad at Connie. The beginning of the story says that “You made me feel like a zero, like a nothing”. This part is a evidence for the conflict
