Shin 1

Heesu Shin
College 1
October 2, 2014
The Madonnas of Echo Park Ch 3 RRJ
Summary
The characters introduced in this chapter were Beatriz (the main character), Ruben (Beatriz's
father), Beatriz's mother, Beatriz's grandmother (a quilt maker), Archie (Ruben's brother), Aracely
(Beatriz's eldest sister), Patricia (Beatriz's sister) Gabriel Esperanza (Beatriz's husband), Felicia
(Beatriz's daughter), Our Lady/Virgin Mary, Father Alemencio. Going along to major events and
settings, the chapter starts up with Beatriz's fear of Devil's Toe, a myth that a Devil will control people
by touching people's toe when they are asleep. And because of that fear, Archie kicks Beatriz and her
family off from his house. Therefore Beatriz gets in to convent, and gets bought to Gabriel. When
Beatriz married Gabriel, she was sixteen and he was fifty-six years old. They were living in Angelino
Heights, where in their mansion, they would separate their themselves by floors. They had a daughter,
Felicia, but since Gabriel had no interest in daughters, Beatriz sent Felicia to her mother when Felicia
was four years old. When Gabriel died, Beatriz got all the ownership that Gabriel owned. One day
Beatriz goes on and tells about a woman she met on the bus shelter on Sunset Boulevard in front of
Pilgrim's Supermarket. The woman knew Beatriz's name and that she had a daughter. She called herself
the mother of all children, mother of Christ, and that she is Virgin Mary. She then gives advice to Beatriz
and disappears into thin air. For six days and six nights Beatriz waited for that lady to come talk to her
again, but since the lady didn't return, she goes to Father Alemencio and tells her experience with this
woman. Father Alemencio does not believes her. On the following day, Beatriz reads a copy of Herald
Examiner, and notices about Alma Guerrero's death (shooting mentioned in chapter 2). She goes to
where the accident has happened and meets the lady (Virgin Mary) again. After that day, for twenty five

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years, Beatriz tries to tell people about the experience she had with the lady at the bus stop in Sunset
Boulevard.
Your Response
My first response to this chapter was happiness for this chapter was not as long as the previous
chapters. Also I kinda liked about this chapter because it seemed as if it was a testimony of one's life and
how they met God ( in this case Virgin Mary). I also really liked how the book used Bible verses. I'm a
Christian, which is different from Catholic, and for those who don't know the difference between those
two, the main difference is that Christians believe in the trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and
Catholics believe in the mother of Christ (Virgin Mary). The part that I quite disagree with this chapter is
when Beatriz met Our Lady. Since, as I mentioned, Catholics believe in Virgin Mary, it means that a
Catholic woman has met her god in real life. This, in other words, means that a Christian has met God
(Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in real life. When Christians, well most Christians, say that they've met
God, it means that they've experienced God, not that they've actually met God face to face. Also just
few decades ago in China where a Chinese woman proclaimed that she was Jesus Christ and that she has
descended from heaven in woman form for Jesus Christ back then has not been complete, and that he
wasn't successful in a man form. It was funny how people believed that she was Jesus Christ. I
wholeheartedly disagree with those people. Jesus Christ back in those days has been complete and has
finished every bits of everything. Overall, other than not agreeing to the religion, I pretty much liked this
chapter.
Discussion Questions
1.If Beatriz left Felicia when Felicia was four years old and never saw her again, how did the author
knew that Beatriz is the grandmother of Aurora?
2.How is Beatriz telling her story of Our Lady dangerous?

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Reading Process
My reading process for this chapter was done smoothly. I like to divide the chapter in half and
read the half in one day and the other on the next day so that it gives me enough time to think about
what the words actually mean and to give me rest while reading the chapter. Also my parents leave for
work from early in the morning to mid-afternoon, therefore when I read in the morning, it was quiet and
calm, so I was able to focus more on reading than other many distractions. I was confused on page 58 on
the very last paragraph, when Beatriz asks her sisters where her real mother is. Then the sisters tells her
that their mother has drowned herself in Echo Park Lake, which means that she is dead. But on two
paragraphs later, it says that Beatriz's mother is happily living with Beatriz's daughter, Felicia. So does
this mean that the grandmother that Felicia lived with on chapter two, was not her real grandmother?
Also I was confused on page 60, there is a line where it says, Plus it was a Tuesday- nobody's idea of a
holy day. What does this mean? If no one thought about Tuesday being a holy day, how is it a holy day?
Lastly I remembered the accident which caused Alma's death, which has been mentioned in chapter two,
when Beatriz has read about the accident through Herald Examiner.
Good Words
1.M'hija- undefinable. But hija means daughter in Spanish, and I think m' in this case is actually mi
which means my in Spanish. Therefore I think this word means my daughter. I chose this word because
this word has been used often throughout this chapter and didn't really knew that this word meant.
2.Castrato- a male singer castrated in boyhood so as to retain a soprano or alto voice. The practice of
castration was banned in 1903. I chose this word because I have never heard o this word before.
3.Stiletto- a short dagger with a tapering blade. I chose this word because I've never heard of this word
before.