No Speak English, by Sandra Cisneros
How would you feel if you were "obligedobligated" to go live abroad?[notes: obliged is a word but it means something different from what "obligado" means in Spanish]
This is the story of a rather peculiar character. The way she's referred to is "Mamacita". Do you recognize it to be a Spanish name? That's correct, for she's from Mexico. However, it's trulyreally a nickname, not a proper name.
[notes: "truly" is close to what you want here, but it's not quite right. It's like "verdaderamente" in Spanish, whereas what you want is a little less strong than that.]
Mamasota, as some people also called her, had been brought into the USA. I said "brought", because she wasn't obligedobligated or forced to do so. Her husband, nameless, had worked in the country for a considerable time before he could afford to pay for the flightsticket for his family to come live with him.
[notes: In the USA at least, we pay for "plane tickets" or "flights" but not for "flight ticket". It's not incorrect; it's just not natural-sounding.]
Mamacita did not oppose to it, but let herself be carried away.
Once settled somewhere in the vast North American country, she refused to go out of her residencyhouse. She did not talk to neighbors. When the mail carrier came, she would answer "He not here", when her husband was abscentabsent. She listened to the Spanish-speaking (Mexican) radio all day. And if anybody did get to speak to her, like the baby boy she had, she would reply "No Speak English", either to mean she couldn't understand a word or she wanted people to notnot to speak that "horrible" language.
[notes: a "residency" has a meaning other than the place where you live. I think you were looking for "residence". However, that's very formal for this context. House or apartment works better here.]
I suggest that you read the story as well. That simple story made me wonder: how is it possible to shut down in such a way? How can oneyou miss home so much you don't allow yourself to be "infected" by the new surroundings?
[You can say in general "how can one miss home....". However, "you" is better here because it agrees with the "you" and "yourself" later. Like in Spanish "como puede uno hacer esto cuando no quieres esto otro". el "uno" no coincide con el "tu" en el resto de la oracion.]
Beyond these questions, there's more: have you noticed how Mamacita did not protest, or even fight, to stay in her original place? And how about when she didn't take care of the mail carrier? She let her husband decide for herself. I repeat: he seemed noble and did not exactly force her. But why does he get to control her life? Did you read in the text, at any point, that he ASKED for her approval?
