Delightfully disturbing in its self, the short story Recuerdo, by Guatalupe Valdes, depicts the life of a young family living through tough times in America, having to make unusual sacrifices to ensure well-being of the family. Barely reading past the first paragraph the author places, a distinct and precise picture in your mind of just what the setting is like where Rosa's family is living. By uniquely describing the setting throughout the story, it allows the readers to place themselves inside the story and by using the main character, Rosa who plays an important role of character development, is of whom the reader can adapt and relate to, throughout the reading of the story.
The author of Recuerdo seems to have the ability to place a perfect picture in the mind of her readers, and this is clearly evident in this short story. In fact, the first couple of sentences of the story already tell you the exact type of environment that Rosa and her family are living in, "It was dusty. And the sun, blinding in brightness, shone unmercifully on the narrow dirty street.", already the reader has picture of what kind of area this is and throughout the story this amazing wording of setting keeps pictures in the readers mind, making setting one of the most significant roles in the story. If all the descriptive language wasn't present this story would be very plain and dull, but fortunately there's plenty of it. Every word in the story involving setting appears to have been thought extensively about and was specifically chosen for that extra powerful effect. Soon the setting is taken into the office of "warn chairs and the torn linoleum and the paper-litter desk." Where Rosa talks to the "greasy" Don Lorenzo, being a character that plays a significant role in the disturbing character development aspect of the story. Furthermore, after establishing the dreary office setting, the author describes the surrounding on Rosa's walk home "there were no trees.
