Poet X Mirror/Window Reflection. A Novel Analysis Example

After reading and reflecting on Elizabeth Acevedo’s poetic novel The Poet X I believe it provides me with a window point of view on Xiomara.

Xiomara was born in a world different than mine. She lives in Harlem with her mom who was forced to marry her dad and her twin. The difference between me and Xiomara is Harlem. For example, according to the Harlem Heritage Tours, “Harlem is known internationally as the Black Mecca of the world.” Also,  based off the data provided by AreaVibes, “ Harlem has more property crime than New York with a ratio of 1931 to 1440, plus more violent crimes than all New York with the ratio at 897 to 539.” Additionally, Harlem has an “F rating on schools and cost of living,” concluding that it is a hard place to live as a child. 

Xiomara grew up in a place where danger was right around the corner and due to this, her mom had rules that she did not agree with. Xiomara was born with different social-class privileges than I have here in Wellesley. She grew up in a life where she had a hard time to succeed, because she was not as fortunate as others in the privileges of traveling, money, education, etc. Her life in Harlem can not compare to Wellesley. Wellesley is a majority white town with A+ schools, crime, employment and amenities based on AreaVibes.

In Wellesley, I was born with good privileges and not to be rude a clear path to college and jobs. I was born into a family that could afford items I needed without too much risk, and be able to live in a town where danger wasn’t too close. It is unimaginable how at the same age, Xiomara and I live two totally different lives. Due to this, it is hard to connect or understand what Xiomara felt during the novel because I could not connect with what was happening. I would have no way of understanding what she did with her life because more likely than not her incidents will not happen here. It is hard to perceive what she went through because her way of living does connect with mine. All in all, this fits into the window analogy because although we are both teenagers, it is a blurred area when looking through the window to view her perspective in life.

Secondly, the window analogy fits in the Xiomara case of religion. In Xiomara’s family religion was a significant deal, yet she would not accept that she was catholic. Many times throughout the book, Xiomara would reject her religion by skipping conformation classes, confession and putting down her beliefs and her mom’s wishes about her religion. In my household, we are Jewish, but reformed. Reform Judaism is “Judaism marked by a liberal approach in nonobservance of much legal tradition (Merrium-Webster).” Although we practice this type of Judaism, I still accept it and attend to what I need to in order to be a part of it. This is contradictory from Xiomara because she establishes that in her mind, her religion does not matter. The difference here is not that I am Jewish, and she is Catholic. It is actually that she does not embrace her religion while I do. To come to the point, while Xiomara found her religion did not suit her and rejected it from her identity at times, I feel my region; Judaism, has always been in my core identity and something I am proud of.

Sources 

AreaVibes for Harlem:https://www.areavibes.com/new+york-ny/harlem/crime/

Harlem Heritage Tours:https://www.harlemheritage.com/history-of-harlem/

AreaVibes for Wellesley:https://www.areavibes.com/wellesley-ma/livability/?ll=42.30592+-71.28293