Comparing Pride In Tom Sawyer And Abuela Invents The Zero

Depending on which perspective someone has, values are either shaped by the crippling society one lives in or caused by human nature’s favoritism for one species of man becoming exalted above the rest. Therefore, to escape the harsh reality of environmental injustice, a beloved pastime includes not only reading literature but being swept away into the story under the guise of fictional characters. Evidently, this experience is prevalent in Judith Cofer Ortiz’s “Abuela Invents the Zero” and Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, where Constancia and Tom Sawyer reflect on their actions that were causing family anguish, disputing whether their pride is worth destroying their loved ones’ confidence. Through similar circumstances, Constancia and Tom realize that to make themselves feel justifiable to others, they must reduce their self-assurance to appreciate others, sooner rather than being outcasted again.

The protagonist Constancia in Ortiz’s short story “Abuela Invents the Zero” comes to understand that through depreciation of others, a negative self-reflection gives way to raising others’ merit by how they truly feel instead. After Abuela abruptly

Likewise, the characters believed that those closest to the characters did not exhibit any concern until they withstand an eye-opening incident, putting into perspective how much they are valued underneath cold exteriors. In the modern reality, reading about characters undergoing a disconnection acts as if it were a mirror to the viewer, allowing them to reflect on how toxic their own filial and peer relationships are. In short, instead of facing the grueling reality of oblivious affection from others, readers use literature as a way to see which events act as effects of an indeliberate