O'Connor
"David Talamantez on the Last Day of Second Grade" was written by Rosemary Catacalos. The poem is about a young boy named David Talamantez who attends grade school while his mother is at work. While he is there, David acts out in a way that is not acceptable to most behavioral standards today, but at the same time is not overly out of line for a second grader. It appears as if he is resisting the world around him, or perhaps he does not understand what is excepted of him, and gets frustrated at his teachers negative remarks. The poem takes place in San Antonio, Texas 1988. David is running around the schoolyard leaving his mark as he throws pieces of lined paper into the air one by one. He watches them fall to the ground in the shade of a fountain. He takes batches of paper and rolls them into a horn though which he shouts "David! David, yes!". The papers are then discarded, and David runs across Brazos Street. When he reaches the other side he kicks a can in the gutter and starts to wander home. The poem then says that David believes that birds are warm blooded because of how quickly they fly, and the long complicated music they produce which is always different unlike dogs or cats. But because of his thoughts he was given nega
In the beginning of the poem David acts out by throwing papers up into the air. Marks for thinking birds are warm blooded, for his small writing, putting his name in the incorrect place, and for not skipping lines between his heading and answers. So based on this we now know that David knows what the rules are, but maybe he does not understand how to write them out. He then does something that is a bit odd. There are different reasons as to why David may be acting out the way he does in this poem. The paper is now worth ninety points. He traces a picture very well, but when it comes time to write in why he enjoys the picture in the blank space provided for him he leaves it blank. This is where the old man notices some markings on this paper, as well as on the rest of David's papers which are scattered around the room. More points are deducted because he failed to skip lines between the heading and answers. He can recite the rules vocally, but when it comes time to write them the English language is all too challenging. It is also possible that he is ashamed of the way he writes. At the same time though there is another way to look at it. He is not resisting, but perhaps he does not understand what is excepted of him. By writing his name all over the teacher's negative remarks at the end he is trying to prove to himself, and the world around him, that he is a good person. The picture itself was drawn very well, but the words placed on the paper are horribly misspelled which hints again at his ethnic background.
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Acceptance Essays
