Abuela Invents The Zero Summary

Analysis of “Abuela Invents the Zero” and “Home”
In most stories, characters experience a change of their values, usually for the better, but they have to struggle and realize things the hard way. In the short stories “Abuela Invents the Zero” and “Home”, both main characters develop new values, but in totally different ways. The main character in “Abuela Invents the Zero” is a contemporary teenage girl named Constancia who faces the problem of her grandmother visiting her family in the city. In contrast, the main character of “Home” is a Russian prosecutor in the late 19th century who tries to convince his seven-year-old son to not smoke and steal. This shows us that even though both stories and characters are considerably different, characters from all over literature can change and evolve new values, no matter where and what they are. At the beginning of the stories, both characters valued specific things that were changed as the stories progressed. In “Abuela Invents the Zero”, Constancia begins by valuing her friends and petty “needs”, such as going to the mall for a fashion show instead of taking her grandmother to …show more content…
“That’s when I’m sent to my room to consider a number I hadn’t thought much about—until today.“ (Ortiz-Cofer) Constancia finally realizes how she offended her grandmother and sees her actions from her abuela’s perspective. I believe she realized her misdeeds and has learned to never mistreat someone in that way again. She will value those that are important to her and never consciously make someone feel like nothing ever again. This is the most prominent event in the story that changes Constancia values- she actually feels bad after her mom clarifies what she did to her abuela. For, if her abuela didn’t exist, Constancia and her mother wouldn’t exist