Elena by Pat Mora

Elena left me feeling sad, and with a heavy heart. While reading, I felt a few different emotions.  As I was reading, all I kept thinking was poor, poor Elena. Here is Elena, trying to learn a new language so that she could talk to her children and the people in her new home. She feels like her Spanish is not enough for her to connect with her children. I pity her when her children, and her grocer, and her mailman laugh at her attempts. Its just he worst feeling when people laugh at your hardest attempt. When Elena locks herself alone in the bathroom, I am heartbroken. Heartbroken that she is so alone during this process. One in which she should have full support from the people that she loves. I was angered by her unsupportive husband. Why would he not want to help her learn English? If it's the reason that the eldest child gives, then he is extremely old fashioned and selfish. As her husband, he should be practicing with her! When the speaker mentioned him drinking from his beer, I almost wished I could smack it from his hands. This poem appealed to me the most because of similar adjustments my family has made. I know how Elena feels when she is laughed at. I understand the difficulty in moving to a new country, where people don't sound like you. I know how it feels to not be able to communicate with other people around me. Moving here and going to school was difficult at first. I was alone and felt ostracized because I didn't sound like everyone else, my accent made it practically impossible for my classmates to understand me. As humans, we are social animals. We all need to talk and communicate in some way with other humans. Not being able to communicate with our loved ones is one of the most frustrating things we have to deal with. Elena, although a short poem, it was a very relatable one.