In the last chapters of Ordinary Girls, I learned a lot about Jaquira and how her surroundings were definitely a bad influence on her. She was a whole different person when she went to the military. When she joined the military she was working hard and felt like a superstar but that didn’t last long. She came back to her old living style and was living with her father for a few months and then she got back with Cheito, her grandmother from her mom’s side . She didn’t know what to feel since she received no love from her grandmother. In those chapters I learned Jaquira really loved her mother’s even if she abused her, she still cared for her mother. When her grandmother passed away she only thought of her mother. After a few months she broke up with Cheito, Cheito was living with another woman and she was back at her fathers apartment. It’s really messed up, what she went through is a lot. And I would say all this happened because of her mother, if she had her mother’s support she would’ve been a better person. And I hope nothing like this ever happens to anyone, even to my enemies.

In pages 142-247 I learned a lot about Jaquira and her personality. She was only this way because of the lacking love from her loved ones. As she moved back and forth from her mother house to father house, she was only looking for comfort and support from them. She didn’t get any of that which led her to committing a lot of crimes and going to jail. I was so happy for her when I read that she felt loved by being with Cheito and his family even if they didn’t like her. She stated  “I couldn’t remember a single time my father told me he loved me, or the last time my mother had hugged me.” I was surprised by this quote because I thought even If her parents were messed up she at least received love from her siblings. Cheito gave her generous love and he was her entire world. They even got married. After few days of their marriage he went back to Training for the military. She went back to depression after him leaving for training. Back at smoking, fighting, etc. She was only well behaved when she was around Cheito because that was where she felt truly loved. Despite the fact that she had certain individuals in her life who were attempting to guide her in the right direction, her father, counselor, grandmother, and friends were all negative influences. I believed they were excellent for her at first, but after reading this section of the memoir, I had second thoughts. I think they were the second ones after her parents who turned her into a person like who she is. 

I noticed that Jaquira Diaz was a child who was fascinated with monsters on pages 63-142. She read novels about demons and exorcisms, as well as films about resurrected witches. I discovered how irritating Anthony was on pages 69-72. And the torture he put on Jaqura and Alaina.“He’d terrorize us with stories about mice building nests in our curly hair, chewing off the tips of our fingers while we slept, sucking the liquid out of our eyeballs.”, she added, ” Hilarious. Anthony stayed with Abula and his Father, while Jaquira and Alina moved in with their Mother to an apartment on Bay Road. Because of their mother’s condition, they had a lot of problems there. They were also furious at their father for not keeping them with him and tried to run away. Jaquira was terrified of her mother, and she feared that she would grow up to be just like her. As I read those paragraphs, I realized how horrible mother Jaquira was. Perhaps it was because of her condition, but Jaquira  was helpless, yet brave and strong. She returned back to her father after a few days,  and fought with her brother to the extent where she stabbed him with a knife and went to jail. Even Though Juquira had a bit of support from her father she lost it all after stabbing her brother. And her fathers attention was all she was looking for. She spent a lot of time in jail as a teenager. Jaquira grew up extremely differently than any other ordinary girl because of all the incidents with her mother, brother, and father.

Ordinary Girls, a memoir by a Puerto Rican girl, Jaquira Diaz, which talks about how She struggles to serve. As a person who is the first priority of her parents, I pity Jaquira Diaz since she received no support or love from her parents when she was a child. “My father was a drug dealer,” she added. I can see how abusive his father was based on this comment. For all the girls out there, our father is our king, and the fact that Jaquira Diaz was treated so horribly by her own father that she considered suicide is tragic. Her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia which is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally according to www.mayoclinic.org . This means that she also received no love support from her mother. She decided to commit suicide but failed, and because of her friends she succeeded to run away from her home and survive. After reading this I now understand what my mother means when she says “ you don’t get everything in life, you have to choose”. I always complain why I don’t have good friends, but I have the best parents in the world, their love is everything I need. And Jaquira had the best friends and their support and motivation was all she needed at that time.