Chicana poet Pat Mora's "Elena"

Mora titles the poem "Elena," which is the Greek form of Helen and means "light" (20000 Names http://www.20000-names.com/female_spanish_names.htm). As can be shown throughout the rest of the poem, Elena wants to be a light to her children, and yet lives in darkness because of her ignorance of the English language. As she points out, "My Spanish isn't enough" anymore (Mora line 1). In Mexico, when her children were younger, she understood "every word they'd say/their jokes, their songs, their plots" (lines 4-5). In line 6 she says, "Vamos a pedirle dulces a mama. Vamos" which translated using Babel Fish means "We are going to request to him sweet to breast we go" (Babel Fish Translation http://world.altavista.com/babelfish/tr). This more intimate line about breast feeding her children she cannot even say in English, it must be in Spanish, the language of her heart. Now, she is almost completely locked out and she is devastated. As she says, however, "that was in Mexico" (Mora line 7). Thin

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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1128
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)