AMERICAN HISTORY by Judith Ortiz Cofer

In this story, Elena is infatuated with the new boy, Eugene, who lives in a small house across the street from her apartment building.  This story gives us a nice example of INDIRECT CHARACTERIZATION.  This is where the author can build character traits by SHOWING the reader rather than telling us the kind of person he or she is.  This is done when the author shows the reader how a character feels, thinks, behaves, what they look like, what they say, etc.  Elena learns a lot about herself and her world after seeing how Eugene's mom reacts to her on the day they made plans to study for their American History class.  At the same time, on November 22, 1963, an event that will be written in American History had just taken place.  At the end of the story, Elena learns about herself and the American people by observing their reactions to this tragic event.