Better Half, Maia

Both of these stories are pretty similar, foreigners dealing with relationship problems. Better Half was a depressing read. Anya is from Dolsk but had moved to the United States away from her mother and father. She fell in love with a boy named Ryan but this love quickly fell through. All there relationship is now is fighting and Anya knew that she would have to end this. Ryan is full of insults and abuse such as: "Now get the hell out of my car""your fat ass isn't getting a free ride no more." (114) The final straw for Anya however was when he hit her later that evening. She met with Erin and now has a restraining order against him. However, even though Ryan was abusive and she knew she was better off without him she still missed him. Maybe she missed the Ryan she knew when they first met, when there was nothing to yell at each other about. After seeing each other at a bar they quickly start getting together again. Everything is alright but Anya knew things just were not going to work out between them. Things quickly get sour, and Anya could see it coming, after that first argument on their second try she gave it up and knew she would have to stop herself from thinking about him, "She'd have to overcome the urge to look fro him as she had that time" (129). Maia in Yonkers is also a sad story to read. It deals with relationships again except this one is between a son and his mother. This son is young and spoiled getting most of what he wants and complaining when he does not get it. When in New York City, he hoped that the elevator in the Empire State Building would take them all the way to the tip of the spire, "When it let them out at the observation deck, on the eighty-sixth floor, he turned disappointed and moody and wandered away from her." (41) I'm the youngest in my family, i have three older sisters but my mom never put up with things like that if i acted like Gogi. While reading the story i found myself thinking of how my mom would react if i did some of the things Gogi did. The evil stare she would have when you know your about to get an ass whooping. Gogi eventually begins to show a little more respect and you see that the relationship between him and his mother is getting better, relationships have two sides and you see Gogi begin to do his part.