"Bad Influence" By Judith Ortiz Cofer

Ever been punished by your parents and was forced to leave for a summer or so? Well I have, when I was about 14, I got in trouble with my parents, and I was sent to Florida for three weeks to stay with my aunt. I was mad and annoyed by my mother's decision. She felt I needed to be isolated from my environment and think about what I did wrong. I was completely frustrated with my parents and became even more mad when I was forced to go to Florida. However, spending time in Florida made me a better person, I acknowledge what I did wrong and realized that is not something I want to keep doing. This is exactly what happens in "Bad Influence", its about a girl named Rita, she gets caught with a boy, and her parents sends her to Puerto Rico.  During her time there, she hated it in the beginning and felt out of place with her grandparents. They had traditions she could not understand, for example when her grandfather enter houses and cleans out the "Mala Influenia", means in english bad influence. However in the end she becomes close to her grandparents and understands the traditions, even became a little expert herself. I can totally understand how she adapts into that environment, because as humans we are made to adapt to any environment and grow. Rita, grew and understood herself and family in the end, "I saw in my mother's eyes that she was scared I might hate her for sending me away. And she should have been, so I let her suffer a little. But then I squeezed in next to her in papa's toy car and held her hand. (page 90)" Growth and knowledge are learned when one is exposed and open minded.