"The Three Wishes" By Ricardo E. Alegria& "Juan Bobo: A Folkloric Information System" By Sarai Lastra

“The Three Wishes” by Ricardo E. Alegria was a very enjoyable read. It was really straightforward in telling the folktales of Juan Bobo, The Ant, and The Witch. Of the three folktales that were told, I favored “The Ant in Search of Her Leg” the most. I preferred this one the most because unlike the other three, it felt as if this one tried to give a message. That message would be that “God is the strongest of them all”. Juan Bobo and The Witch seemed to not have much of a message to give to readers. They were very direct and explicit in simply telling a story to for readers.

            Sarai Lastra’s “Juan Bobo: A Folkloric Information System”, was a very strenuous piece of writing. This article is definitely way more informative than it sounds, was also clearly a piece that deserved more than a glance. As a reader I really fancied the way Lastra introduces her topics and supports them with the use of Puerto Rican culture. In addition, I truly admired Lastra emphasis so much about the folklore collection, which her entire piece almost completely revolves around that one idea. For example, Lastra uses quotes from numerous influential Puerto Ricans and multiple tables to cite the claims that she was making. The tone that I received from Lastra’s writing is a tone of passion an eagerness to thoroughly explain her case. More importantly, the way Lastra had finished her essay had left me in a bit of awe. It is incredible that after all that informative text that Lastra is capable of concluding her piece in such a dignifying way. “Bearing in mind that in any language our stories define who we are”. This had really caught me as a reader of what exquisite writing truly is.