Burro Genius Book Analysis
Summary Analysis: Burro Genius
Burro Genius, Villasenor (2004), is an autobiography of life experiences that Victor Villasenor had when growing up. The book focused on his years in elementary, middle and high school. Villasenor discusses how the teachers, students and family impacted the person he was to become as an adult. He explains through story telling how his experiences made his beliefs in who he was as a Mexican form and continually changed to give him the self-esteem he later developed in life.
Book Summary
Burro Genius: A Memoir tells a story of the author, Victor Villasenor, and his rich background from which the American education system was reviewed. This book explores the challenges and problems that various students and teachers experience in the public school system. Victor tells the story of a young Mexican man, who went to school in the 1940’s. Despite Victor’s ability in mathematics, he lags behind because of the challenges he has in the English language. Victor’s teachers and classmates think that he is stupid and lazy and cannot learn English (Villasenor, 2004). These challenges do not hinder the progress of Victor in his pursuit to work hard to achieve his childhood dreams.
The early death of Victor’s older brother brings Victor closer to nature. Trees, stars, dogs, horses, and the moon all come together to create a magical encounter between nature and humans. His belief in the supernatural and his intuition is strong. Villasenor describes himself as a spiritual person, yet not religious, with mirrors his Navajo-like perspective on the natural cycle of life and being one with nature.
Ethical Theory
“And I thanked mi papa who’d always said to me that we…..were like the weeds. That roses you had to water and give fertilizer or they’d die. But weeds, indigenous plants, you gave them nada-nothing; hell you even poisoned them and put concrete over them, and those weeds would still break the concrete, reaching for the sunlight
Burro Genius, Villasenor (2004), is an autobiography of life experiences that Victor Villasenor had when growing up. The book focused on his years in elementary, middle and high school. Villasenor discusses how the teachers, students and family impacted the person he was to become as an adult. He explains through story telling how his experiences made his beliefs in who he was as a Mexican form and continually changed to give him the self-esteem he later developed in life.
Book Summary
Burro Genius: A Memoir tells a story of the author, Victor Villasenor, and his rich background from which the American education system was reviewed. This book explores the challenges and problems that various students and teachers experience in the public school system. Victor tells the story of a young Mexican man, who went to school in the 1940’s. Despite Victor’s ability in mathematics, he lags behind because of the challenges he has in the English language. Victor’s teachers and classmates think that he is stupid and lazy and cannot learn English (Villasenor, 2004). These challenges do not hinder the progress of Victor in his pursuit to work hard to achieve his childhood dreams.
The early death of Victor’s older brother brings Victor closer to nature. Trees, stars, dogs, horses, and the moon all come together to create a magical encounter between nature and humans. His belief in the supernatural and his intuition is strong. Villasenor describes himself as a spiritual person, yet not religious, with mirrors his Navajo-like perspective on the natural cycle of life and being one with nature.
Ethical Theory
“And I thanked mi papa who’d always said to me that we…..were like the weeds. That roses you had to water and give fertilizer or they’d die. But weeds, indigenous plants, you gave them nada-nothing; hell you even poisoned them and put concrete over them, and those weeds would still break the concrete, reaching for the sunlight
References: Bonhoeffer, D. (1995). Ethics. New York, NY: Simon &Schuster. Borgmann, A. (2006). Real American Ethics: Taking responsibility for our country. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Palmer, P. (2004). A hidden wholeness: The journey toward an undivided life. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Villasenor, V. (2004). Burro genius. A memoir. New York: HarperCollins.