Belot 1
Mario Belot
College Writing: Dr. Bergevin
Essay # 1- Personal Response to Literature (with an Afterword)
February 3, 2014
A promise through the years
Many people experience love towards their families in many different ways.
Some show their care and affection through everyday activities and others abandon their
family just to find out how much they love and miss them. In the Belot household we
have many traditions that make me feel love for my family. One of them is always having
lunch and dinner together. Even though it is a minimal thing, it is the small details that
count and through having a meal together and discussing how our day went makes us a
loving and supporting family. Not all families practice traditions like this, they vary in
different ways, but the feeling of love toward your siblings and parents is the same no
matter how you demonstrate it. In “The Witch’s Husband” the Abuela tells a heart-
warming story of how she at a very young age wanted to be free and enjoy her life but
returns for love to her family. Judith Ortiz Cofer does a great job of portraying the
setting, as customary, grandmothers love to tell stories from their younger years and
enjoy sharing anecdotes with their grandchildren. “The Witch’s Husband” begins with
the narrator paying a visit to her old folks with the design of convincing them to move
out of their big home and go live with any of their now married kids. But with one of her
tales the grandmother proves her point of why she will not leave her house or her
husband ever again. Love can be manifested in different ways; some of which seem
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bizarre to many. In this story, Abuela, appeared to disregard her family’s wellbeing, but
at the end the true feeling she has towards her husband captivates the readers.
This heart-warming story came after a fictional introduction of a husband that
followed his wife and unfortunately learned that she was a witch. He discovered this by
following her and disrespecting her privacy. This story could have a different purpose
depending on the interpretation the reader has, it could be a warning of what was to
come. A non-fiction story of how a wife that left on a journey but her husband respected
her decision and let her be. Other than that, the reader could have a different approach on
how to interpret the narrative and assume that the grandmother believes that women
should be allowed to leave and not be questioned in their decisions. Through the second
