Tears of a Tiger

Death, it’s something we all have to face whether we like it or not. It is a painful thing that causes sadness, tears, and questions. Death can break the strongest person, but yet makes a weak person stronger. Esperanza was always used to seeing her father as a strong, tough, tenacious man. However after his own father died, Esperanza saw a side of her father that she wasn’t used to, a side of the male sex that she wasn’t used to. Her father was left vulnerable, weak and lost. He cried without shame and with emotion. I believe this came as somewhat of a shock to Esperanza. It’s so hard to imagine the people that have always been the strong ones in your life as someone who is left at their lowest point. Although it may not seem so, everyone has emotions, and everyone has specific things that trigger those emotions. We may not like to admit it, and I would imagine Esperanza’s father feeling almost embarrassed by his vulnerability, but there are certain things that just break us in ways we are not quite used to. No one likes to feel weak, and no one likes seeing their loved ones at a weakened state. I believe that this experience was good for Esperanza. It allowed her to better understand and actually witness the fact that even the most powerful people have their low points. It helped her realize that we are in the end only human, and there are certain events that occur in one’s life that just leave us broken and awestricken. Also, in a way the event gave me the realization of how Esperanza’s parents are preparing her to be a mother. I noticed that Esperanza’s father went to her, rather than her mother and his own wife, to announce the heart-breaking news. He asked Esperanza out of all of his family to tell her siblings about their grandfather’s death. When it comes to tragic news, I normally imagine my mother breaking it to me, not an older sibling. So in some way or another I felt as if her father did this on purpose, almost to secretly prepare her for the role of breaking bad news, something that most mother seem to have the responsibility of.  Another interpretation of her father’s actions could also be his sense of pride. He was too proud to show his vulnerable side to his wife and his sons that most likely look up to him as a role model. And since Esperanza’s little sister Nenny was so young, he probably knew that she wouldn’t quite understand. So in result he told Esperanza, because she was mature enough to handle it and a women of honestly much lower standard then him, since he is the head of the household. Whichever motive it was, maybe even being both I believe that it was a crucial experience for Esperanza to go through, that way she could understand that even eminent people have downfalls.

~Dana