THE CHALLENGE talks about José, a boy in 7th to 8th grade, who started to like the new girl at his school, Estela. He tried multiple ways to impress her. He wanted to trip in front of her, but he had already tried that with a girl in sixth grade and failed. He wanted to talk to her in code, like James Bond but didn’t dare to try. José studies hard instead, but the teacher thinks he is cheating, and Estela doesn’t even care. He even tried hurting himself to make her pity him, but she wasn’t even there for two days, and on the third, José’s scars were already well. He talks to her, but she sounds dull and uninterested, and finally challenges her to a racquetball game, though he doesn’t know how to play. Uncle Freddie teaches him, but he is still bad. At the court, he loses terribly: twenty-one to nothing. Now, José hopes Estela will stay away from him, instead of liking him.
Throughout a story, people change; but not in appearance; instead, they change in personality and opinion, in a good way. Characters change positively in personality and thinking throughout a novel, especially when affected by a situation. José changes his opinion about Estela: before, he thought she was cute and liked her, but after the talk with her and the racquetball match, he realized she was abrupt and tough, and wanted to stay away from her. However, this change is actually positive, as José now understands that women can’t be underestimated and that men can always be accurate that they are better than women in sports. One gets to know another more and more, after several main situations, affecting one’s opinions about another and their relationship. And when one knows another thoroughly, one has a changed opinion of another, just like José’s opinion of Estela. Before, when José only saw Estela, he liked her just because she was cute and all. So he tried to get perfect scores, only to get accused of cheating and get ignored, he tried to hurt himself, only to get bloody scars and no pity from anyone, and tried to win a racquetball match against Estela, only to get embarrassed and lose terribly. After all that, José finally got to know the real Estela, and no longer thought of her as cute, but rather dull and tough. When one gets to know another more and more, one starts to develop new opinions towards another, therefore affecting their relationship.
Gender discrimination is very common, especially when boys take advantage of the girls’ soft heart and sympathy. Boys attempts to look weak in front of girls, as girls tend to be more attentive and pity the weak. José takes advantage of the fact that girls have a soft heart for the weaker people, and tries to make himself look weak. In sixth grade, he tried tripping purposely in front of a girl, but only managed to rip his pants and get bloody scratches in the end. He also tries the same thing on Estela, and purposely falls off his bike and gets bloody scars on his chins and elbows. However, Estela was absent those days, and when she came back, the scars were already gone. Many men take advantage of women’s kind heart and empathy, and do mischievous deeds instead. Taking advantage of women’s good deeds and using it to do bad deeds is one clear sign of gender discrimination. In other words, taking advantage of women is the same as mistreating them. However, men still think that their actions are just to make women impressed. When men take advantage of women’s pity and sympathy, they are only mistreating the people of opposite gender, resulting in gender discrimination.
People tend to pretend to possess confidence in order to make their reputation higher, but are only cowards in reality. People wrap a cloak of invisibility around their bodies, but are still purely visible under the thin layer of the cloak; one scratch, and the whole cloak is undone, revealing the truth under. José does this all the time: he pretends to be confident and determined in something, to make girls impressed and like him; but in reality, he is only a frightened coward. When he sees how strong and muscly Estela was, he wanted to show off his own strength, only be find himself three times thinner, and therefore put his shirt back on, to escape from embarrassment. “José noticed that her legs were bigger than his, and they quivered like the flanks10 of a thoroughbred horse.” People do everything they can just to pretend they are confident and to show off, but never think about how to really make themselves confident and quit the pretending and all the hard work needed to pretend. Pretending something is actually a lot harder that actually doing something, but many people don’t understand that (like José) and continue to pretend their confidence. Rather than pretending to possess confidence, people should understand how to really have confidence in themselves, rather than pretending to have it.
THE CHALLENGE talks about José, a boy in eighth grade, who tries multiple ways to impress Estela, the new girl in school. However, José quickly changes his mind about everything about Estela after their little lunch chat and the racquetball game. Before, he thought Estela was cute, but now, he thought she was just abrupt and tough. People’s opinions of someone changes when they get to know each other more. Mistakes are always made, and people always deserve a second chance; but mistakes can’t be easily forgiving after making the same ones over and over again. Many people, like José, lack confidence and are embarrassed to show it, so they pretend to possess confidence. But isn’t it much easier to really learn to develop confidence rather that pretend to have it over and over again?
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