hich is that “memories are represented in Rocio’s home by these forgotten objects, these fragments of past lives” (7). She also brings up that the past in “Shooting Stars” is best described as a memory that is constantly changing. Rocio is writing about Diana and Eloisa as she sees them as an adult instead of the insecure girl she once was.Rivera also brings up the importance of girls like Eloisa and Diana. One of the first things Rivera brings up the girls’ importance to Rocio. To Rocio, Eloisa and Diana were the embodiment of womanhood. They stood for everything that Rocio desired to be. They were beautiful, confident, and mysterious. Rivera also brings up the fact that even the girls’ names were created to exemplify beauty. For example, Eloisa is compared to the goddess Venus. Diana is named for the goddess of the moon. The names were created on purpose to show the girls’ beauty and mystery. In the end, though, Rivera states that Chavez twists the plot around by showing Diana when she gets older. Diana is no longer this beautiful goddess. She is, at the end, a wrinkled, moustached, old maid. In the end, Rocio no longer sees these girls as romantic figures to be adored, but as real women with tragic lives.Another important point that Rivera brings up is Chavez’s unique literary style of meshing together the English and the Spanish culture through the speech of the readers. Rivera states that Chavez has a “special rhythm and a delicate interlocking of the two languages” (7). Chavez effectively uses language, in particular the bilingual dialect and monologue in creating a unique novel. Through Chavez’s use of languages, the reader can easily get a good feel of the Southwest dialect. It allows insight to the Mexican American culture in the Southwest, where people do mesh the two languages. The last major point that Rivera explores is the developing...
