NEGI'S by Salim, Anastasia

Her living conditions / neighborhood

s2218366 — 2025-02-26 20:59:22 UTC

When she is four years old, Esmeralda and her family move to Macun, a Puerto Rican town. The new house is made of corrugated tin and the conditions are cramped. The children sleep in hammocks and there are many repairs to be done.

Also she reflects on her desire to become a jibara, the word for people who lived in the country

Who is Negi's? (Esmeralda)

s2218366 — 2025-02-26 21:02:36 UTC

Esmeralda is a feisty, independent child. She loves music, her friends, and her family. Her entry into the adult world comes through her observations of her parents—both their fighting and their love—and through how often she is forced to move. She rarely feels settled. After moving to New York, she is struck by how much she misses the open spaces of Puerto Rico. Once she arrives in the city, she is finally supported by mentor figures and discovers a career path

The relationship with her family

s2218366 — 2025-02-27 04:19:08 UTC

Negi's relationship with her family is complicated, despite her love for her mother. Her mother, Mammy, is strict and often scolds her, but also caring, often manipulating her children, such as telling Negi that the termite attack was the result of not listening to her mother. Her father, Papi, is more laid-back and does a lot of the manual work around the house, and does not comfort Negi and Delsa when they cry after being scolded. Along with her two sisters, Delsa and Norma.

Negi sometimes lives in competition with them.

Puerto Rico in the 1950s (The setting)

s2218366 — 2025-02-27 19:17:59 UTC

The memoir opens in the early 1950s. Esmeralda Santiago, called "Negi," and her family have just moved to Macún, Puerto Rico.

This book begins with a description of Santiago's life in Macon, a section of the Candelaria neighborhood in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico. It explains the circumstances that led her mother to bring her and her siblings to New York.

Jibaro/jibara - What is behind this word?/ meaning/ Facts and importance to Puerto Ricans

s2218366 — 2025-02-27 19:35:26 UTC

Jíbaro is a word used in Puerto Rico to refer to the countryside people who farm the land in a traditional way.

In the morning Esmeralda's family listens to a radio program playing traditional music by the jibaros, a term for rural Puerto Ricans. The songs emphasize the struggles of the jibaros as well as their close relationship with nature, their independence, and their deep pride in Puerto Rico.

Conflicts from chapter one

s2218366 — 2025-02-28 05:39:45 UTC

After the birth of her brother Hector, Esmeralda begins to notice that her parents are fighting frequently. Pablo disappears for days at a time, causing her mother to alternately cry and become angry.
Esmeralda worries that another child will further separate her from Ramona who will forget about her.
Problems with Neji and also with her identity and the meaning of being a Jibara.

Text to the world

s2218366 — 2025-02-28 18:22:28 UTC

The book "When I Was in Puerto Rico" has themes that relate to the world such as family and poverty. It mentions Negi's struggle of being Puerto Rican and how people often face images related to identity, nationality, and trying to stay true to their culture.