A student writes: “The genre of this short story is fantasy. The narrator says that the protagonist couldn’t read or write at the age of 20. That’s completely unrealistic. Also, the protagonist had to leave home and make her own living since the age of 11. This makes no sense. Her parents would never just let her leave and fend for herself at such an early age. Another thing that sounds completely fantastic is that the Coronel was illiterate, too. How could he get to be the Coronel if he didn’t know how to read and write?” [Translation mine.]
Apparently, I’m not managing to explain the concept of a different cultural reality very clearly.
Clarissa's Blog 
estaría muy dificíl en EEUU, Clarissa
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No it isn’t. I know plenty of people who live here who are aware that people don’t live the same way all over the world. I’ve never met any of these new people, the ones who seem to have been raised in a bubble, who have never been on the internet (or all they do is Facebook their friends), who don’t have older relatives who complain about the bad old days, who don’t watch any television that isn’t Rich Americans Showing Off Their Bling And Emoting About Their Love Lives While Living In Posh New York Apartments. I mean, I realize these people exist, I just have fortunately never have met any of them.
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We try to make as many students as possible to do Study Abroad because otherwise they will preserve this ignorance forever. It’s sad, too, to be so unaware of the world you live in.
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What about their own culture, like England several centuries back? I thought some medieval kings couldn’t write (well?).
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The story we were reading was set in the XX century, though.
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