The document comprises two essays highlighting personal experiences and societal issues. The first essay discusses the author's relationship with his mother, who serves as his best teacher and role model, while the second essay contrasts the experiences of Sandra Cisneros, who feels the impact of her name on her identity, and Dick Gregory, who faces racial discrimination in school. Both essays emphasize the importance of self-identity and the negative effects of societal judgment.

1. 2
essay 1
Abdullah
Nour Abdullah
English 113A
Professor Riccomini
19 February 2014
My mother my best teacher
I believe that we have to learn more things; and things in
this life and it should be the right things from the right person.
Thus we will learn from there experience in this life and they
are going to be our ideal. Actions speak louder than words, so
everyone will find the right person from the situation. In my
view my mother is my best teacher in this life .She have
impacted me a lot of things during my life, she was by my said
during high school, and I learned from her a lot of lessons.
When I was child my mother was the one that impact me.
Unfortunately my father pass away when I was four years old,
then she decide to raise us my three brothers and I, she didn’t
get marred until now and she wouldn’t. Indeed my mother saw
and learned a lot from her life by her own, and then she taught
us what she had learned. Obviously she would like to make us
“perfect” as every mother wants her kids to be. So while I’m
growing up I learned from her several things. She is the one that
I can’t move one step without her point of view. The most

2. important thing that I had learned it from her is how to
communicate with others especially with my friends, how to
feedback the people in all their cases when they’re sad, happy,
feel bad or good. During my middle school life I know how to
deal with people around me. She has a strong personality that
means when she just ask me to do something I have to do it at
the same time. She’s playing a big role in my life. Each day I
learn from her new things, for instance: she is keep watching us
and notice what we are doing and if there is something wrong
happen she talk with us and let us explain why we did that, So
she let us learn from our mistakes in that way as she’s always
understand us.
The most period that my mother and I be so close from
each other when I just attend to high school, she’s keep
advising me that not all the people around me are good there is
some mean people that I haven’t listen to them. As much we be
away from those kind of people we will be safe, subsequently
we will not get heart. I think that teenager stage is the sensitive
stage in our life so we need some person to be beside us. I
decide to choose my mother that person; I choose her my best
friend and my best teacher not even in this period of my life but
also in my whole life. On day I went to school so early until I’m
done from my first two classes I feel like tired and so many of
stress from our high school work moreover the mean girls
around me and how they treat me. Then when I just get back
home my mother notice that on my eyes and she gives me some
positive words and what should I do. Every one of us feel safe
and peace when there is some person understand him and help
him, that what I feel with my mother.
What I really learned from my mother and still want to
learn it more is how to be strong enough. Her personality is
supper perfect. She spends her life just for us (my three brothers
and I). She motivates us and guides us for the right way that we
will feel comfort on it. So when I just decided to study abroad I
know that I will do it, and that because I gained how to be
strong and have self confident from her, therefor I can face

3. difficulties of life. In addition, I’m alone here studying abroad
and we chat all the day together so I don’t feel that she’s not
beside me. Unfortunately she is not with me here but she will
visit me on the following month.
My mum my leader in this life; I can’t imagine my life second
without her. She impact me from I was young and be so close to
me in my high school life and informed me so many lessons.
I’m so glade to wright about her. And I’m so proud of her; I
wish to be like her in the future such a good mother. And all I
wish from my life to be same as her and let her be proud of me
as I’m proud of her, I do my best to make her proud of me.

4. Essay 2 Sandra Cisneros decided to change her name for several
reasons that she mentions in her essay. Her name was Esperanza
which means hope in English, and in Spanish it means sadness it
means waiting. She got this name from her great grandmother,
and she didn't like her name as it was hard to pronounce. It was
affecting her in her school and at home. However she liked her
name more than her sister's name whose her name was
Magdalena as she didn't mention that she have sister for the way
that she think as it's uglier than her's. Sandra lived in a country
where her name was not a common name, it affected her a lot
and she was made fun of because of it in school. The author
sees herself like a strong woman.
There are mainly three characters in the essay Shame that are
identified in the story. The author Dick Gregory, Helene, the
girl that he likes, and the teacher who teaches him in high
school. Dick Gregory comes from a poor family and he doesn't
have a father. He likes Helene a lot and she study with him in
the same class. Unfortunately, he was an African American
which makes the others treat him in a different way. He used to
work to earn his living. And when he went to school he dressed
well for Helene. One day the teacher was taking donations for
"community chest". He wanted to make a donation too, but
when he told his teacher, the teacher insulted him in front of the
whole class, just because he was African American and she said
that "we are collecting this money for you and your kind" .
From this day onwards he was shameful of himself just because
he was African American.
The contrasts I found in the two essays is that in the story My
Name, Sandra's main point is about how important a name is for
a person and it may affect their life. On the other hand in the
story Shame the author mentions how important it is to be

5. insulted in front of the person he loved the most and how it
affected his whole life for a mistake he hadn't done.
When we compare the two essays, we also find a lot of
similarities between them. For example, both of them don't like
how they’d been treated in school. While Sandra was made fun
of because of her name, Dick was insulted because he was
African American. Along the same lines both the authors are
against racism. Sandra believes that the Chinese think that their
women are not strong while Dick believes that the black people
are not being respected. In the same way both the authors
portray society as a hindering around them. The way the school
treats them, they don't feel good about themselves.
Another similarity between the two essays is that both of them
just wanted a little attention. In Shame, there a few lines that go
like this: “The teacher thought I was a troublemaker. All she
saw from the front of the room was a little black boy who
squirmed in his idiot’s seat and made noises and poked the kids
around him. I guess she couldn’t see a kid who made noises
because he wanted someone to know he was there.” These lines
really touched my heart as the author just wanted a little
attention, for someone to know he was also a part of this world
and nothing else. And in My Name, the author wanted someone
to see the real her and not just make fun of her name. She feels
that nobody really knows what she is like from inside and would
want people to see that.
Similarly both of the authors feel strong about themselves. On
the contrary Sandra feels lost because of her name and feels that
she should get a new name that will change her identity. Dick
feels low because he doesn't have a father and because he's
African American. Regardless of how bad their childhood was
both the authors grow up to be successful people in life. They
didn't let their childhood to destroy their future.
In short a name is a very important thing in a person life for
instance: my cousin's parents changed her name four times
while she was a month old as they thought the names didn't suit
her best even though in deferent cultures the names may differ

6. from each other. Names are something that shouldn't be made
fun of as it may affect the person’s whole life. Just like Sandra,
being insulted in front of the whole class also effected Dick a
lot , he never liked going to school after that incident because
of what happened in that classroom. He could not forget the
incident for the next teeny two years just because of that day.
The author , Dick started hating the food trucks. He would also
take the long way home just because the people going into the
"white's Eat Shop" wouldn't see him.
Ultimately I would like to conclude that no matter how hard it's
today one shouldn't feel low about it and should think about the
future. The identity of a person shouldn't be lost because of
people making fun of them.