Matilde Zelaya

English 101

Assignment Essay 1

06/28/11

Two Cases of Unexpected Pregnancies and the Decisions These Women
Made or Were Forced to Make Are young girls ready to face unexpected pregnancies? Can they deal with the consequences? What about boys? Shunned was written by Meredith Hall and her story gives a view of an unexpected pregnancy that takes place in 1965. “Then I got pregnant. I was sixteen. Family, church and school each, which had embraced me as a child-turned its back on me” (Hall 50). Birthday was written by Helena Maria Viramontes and her story shows the other version of how pregnancies can be dealt with and that is still done now. It is about a girl that is pregnant, named Alice “I rub my stomach
In Birthday, “It’s the twentieth century ..Why weren’t you taking anything? You know better.. You’re a girl. You’re supposed to know those things. Said Mike.” (Viramontes 46). As if only the woman is responsible when a child is to come. He also says “You’ll have to get an abort”… “She realized, that the decision was ultimately hers and hers alone” (Viramontes 46). As if only the woman is responsible when a child is to come. He can’t even finish pronouncing the word abortion. He blames her about the pregnancy as if he was not part of it. But he is at the abortion clinic. It would have been better to take the pill, but love is not always planned and when people decide they want to be together, they must be prepared to have a family. In Shunned the father of the child is not mentioned. So she doesn’t count with him either. Men have been avoiding their responsibility for ages, what helps now are DNA tests.

“Four days after the birth, my mother drove me to High Mowing, a small boarding school in western New Hampshire, for an interview to enter in the fall”(Hall 63). She was able to finish her High School and was able to overcome her difficulties. “I graduated in 1967, the same year my old class finished up in Hampton” (Hall 64). This proved that no matter the situation you can overcome that difficulty if you try. She will never forget but she tries to get part of her life back. In Birthday only a few people know but the guilt