Essay Questions

Desertion is a theme the is deeply explored throughout Reyna Grande’s The Distance Between Us. Show how this theme is brought out.

Desertion is at the center of Reyna Grande’s memoir, The Distance Between Us. In the memoir, the writer struggles to come to terms with her parent’s decision to go to the United States in search of better opportunities leaving her at the mercy of her abusive grandmother. Reyna Grande is not able to determine truly whether it is true that she was abandoned with her siblings or whether it is true that her parents really went to search for better jobs in the states. This abandonment and desertion can thus be argued to be the result of the serious emotional trauma and pain that is presented throughout the memoir. Reyna and her siblings, as a result of this abandonment, therefore have to raise themselves while at the same time dealing with an oppressive grandmother.

Show how abuse and oppression are brought out in Reyna Grande’s memoir, The Distance Between Us.

Pain and abuse are very well presented in Reyna Grande’s memoir. On top of mistreatment by their grandmother, Reyna and her siblings also suffer from abuse characterized by disrespect in Abuela’s house. After Papi helps Reyna and the others cross over the border, he exercises full dominance over them as well as emotional abuse characterized by heavy mood swings and a tendency to overreact. Papi punishes the children in humiliating ways often forcing them to fight each other. This is the kind of abuse that the children have to ensure at his hands.