Comparison Of Walkout And Esmeralda Santiago's Almost A Woman

In both Edward James Olmos’ film Walkout and Esmeralda Santiago’s Almost a Woman, the main protagonist of each story has gone through both a moral and psychological growth. The Latino backgrounds of both protagonists play a vital role in the development of their individual relationships with their ethnic and local communities. In Walkout, Paula is placed into a position where she must choose to ignore her cultural background and focus on academics, or embrace her identity and become an activist. In the beginning of the film, Paula faces the stark reality that she and her fellow classmates are being treated unequally by the schools they attend. She then decides to join a group a students who, with help from the Brown Berets and the encouragement from her teacher Sal Castro, try to change the way the schools function and demand equal treatment.
Paula is faced with the moral dilemma of having to choose between her academics or activism. When Paula believes she …show more content…
She soon enlists the support of their families as well. By acting as the voice for her community, she was able to have them rally behind her and call for change together. By bringing her community together, the Chicano voice was finally heard and the schools slowly began to change. In the end of the film, Paula realized that she was able to focus on her academics, while also being an activist.
In Almost a Woman, Santiago is faced with the choice of holding on to her Puerto Rican culture, or to assimilate to the American culture found in Brooklyn. In the beginning of her memoir, Santiago craves the return to Puerto Rico. This desire forms as she misses her father and the beauty of the island, but soon is a desire to leave Brooklyn and to return to a life that was simpler, a life where she was not American or Puerto Rican, but just