Robles, Harlow

In the book titled “Carmen Lomas Garza” by Constance Cortez, Carmen paints a picture of these two young girls laying on the roof of their home looking up at the sky. While on the roof top, one is pointing up at the sky while the other is relaxing. While they are doing this, through a window in the home there is a woman holding out a pink bed sheet, as if she is doing housework, and folding it. This picture reminds me of my own family and the things we used to do together.  For example, as children my brother and I used to climb a tree that is in the back yard of the house we lived in. We played in that tree for hours and would sometimes use it to climb the roof of our home. Growing up we didn’t have many toys so we would use anything to play with. Playing on that tree, we had so much fun, and it took us away from the reality we lived in.

In the painting however, Carmen isn’t just painting two girls on a rooftop while their mother is doing laundry. She is also making a statement about how she saw her life in her home. What I mean is this, the girls on the roof are young, so here they are looking up at the moonlit sky with so many dreams of success and adventure. At the same time their future is already predestined in that they will be like the lady in the window who probably did the same thing these girls did and climbed a roof and thought about her future. Instead, she is inside the house attending to her domestic duties. Because there are no men in the painting, it can be assumed that they are out working and having the adventures that these two young girls are dreaming about having but never will.