An English Literature Class Analyzes Ropa Cara By Camilo

Hello, everyone, 

This time, I share a summary and an essay on the song, Ropa Cara by the Colombian singer songwriter, Camilo Echeverry. These two pieces were written by my English Literature class student, Lidia Mercedes. They are a sample of our teaching-learning process in the 2021 first semester. In order to get my students into literary analysis, I usually choose a song in Spanish, our official language in the Dominican Republic. I make sure the story behind the song is evident. Later, they explore the song, discover it and tell that story in a written summary. After that, many of the students brainstorm about general topics they think the song is about and tell the rest of the class the reasons for their choices. Right after that, they do the same with subtopics and support their ideas with evidence from the song lyrics or the story behind it. Finally they choose one general topic and three subtopics from the resulting lists and write down a five-paragraph analytic essay.

Summary on Ropa Cara by Camilo Echeverry

     The song, Ropa Cara, written by Camilo Echeverry is about a man who meets a girl on social media. She demands that he wear designer clothes. He starts to dress in expensive clothes for her. He reflects and realizes he is not that kind of person, so he decides to go away from her. 

Essay on Ropa Cara by Camilo Echeverry

     The song, Ropa Cara, written by Camilo Echeverry is about vanity. Vanity is an exaggerated expression of self-pride or feeling of superiority over other individuals. A vain person seeks to be admired by others and tends to have a derogatory treatment with people. Vain people like to show off their successes. They take care of their image in an exaggerated way and show their material goods with excessive pride. They need to be flattered and attract the attention of others as well; therefore, they surround themselves with people who are at their same level or higher. Nowadays, examples of vanity can be seen on social media, since those are means by which individuals can share their day to day activities. Thus, it is easier for many people to pretend to be what they are not, or pretend to have what they do not just to impress others.   

     First of all, toxic love is clearly noticed in Ropa Cara and it is characterized by behaviors that are emotionally or physically damaging to someone. Toxic love damages self-esteem and drains energy. Some of the characteristics of toxic love are insecurity, self-centeredness, dominance, control, and much more. An example of toxic love could be when in a relationship one of the partners tries to change the other to an excessive degree either physically or emotionally. Toxic love is shown in the song when the girl demands that the man change his way of dressing, and he starts wearing expensive clothes to please her. 

     A second issue related to vanity is identity loss, which is described as a process in which a person loses his/her essence seeking self-worth or approval from others. An example of identity loss could be when someone who has low self-esteem gets into a relationship. This kind of person will always seek and depend on his/her partner’s acceptance preventing the real them from being out there. Identity loss is shown in Ropa Cara, when the man forgets the things he is taught at home and starts wearing expensive brand clothes for the girl’s approval, but that is not the one he really is. 

     Another issue shown in the song is materialism and it is described as the belief that money, possessions, and comfort are the most important things to obtain in life, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual, or cultural values. An example of materialism could be when a person marries another just because he or she is rich. Camilo Echeverry shows materialism in his song when the girl only focuses on expensive clothes, but she doesn’t care about the man’s feelings and values.  

     To summarize the analysis on the song, Ropa Cara by Camilo Echeverry, it is important to point out that vanity is an exaggerated expression of self-pride or feeling of superiority over other individuals. Also, toxic love is a love characterized by behaviors that are emotionally or physically damaging to someone. In addition, identity loss is a process in which someone loses his/her essence seeking approval from others. Furthermore, materialism is the belief that money, possessions, and comfort are the most important things to obtain in life. Camilo Echeverry, through his song, wants to show people the things someone who is in love can do just for the approval of the person he or she is in love with. In my opinion, Camilo made a good point with this song, because it clearly shows that when people seek approval of someone they are in love with, it can cause them to lose their essence, and do things they never thought of doing. 

A BIT OF HISTORY THROUGH DOMINICAN HOUSES

 

Hello, everyone,

At the end of 2021 first semester, the pandemic due Covid-19 still continued. Therefore, my Composition I students and I kept on working online. Since March 2020, this mode of teaching has allowed students from different parts of the country to join the class. This semester, we continued working on the writing project, Historic Houses in the Dominican Republic. As always, I guided my students to do research about a historic house they chose. Simultaneously, they engaged in the steps of the writing process paragraph by paragraph in class. The result was a five-paragraph composition per student. This time, I share one of those papers with you all. I hope you learn a little bit of the history of the Dominican Republic by reading Sandra Batista’s piece. Which part of Sandra’s paper called your attention? Miss Batista and I will feel great if you leave a comment. 

MUSEO DE LAS CASAS REALES

(The Royal Houses Museum)

By Sandra Batista de la Cruz

            The Royal Houses Museum is an incredible place for Dominican history. This Museum is important in this country for keeping part of its past such as the evidence of some events that occurred a long time ago. Much information and antique items are found in this museum like furniture, classical weapons, and many other things. They are displayed in its rooms, so that people enjoy their visit and acquire knowledge about their ancestors and about the origin of each historical item inside this wonderful monument.

            First of all, The Royal Houses Museum is a colonial building and a cultural monument of Dominican History. This Museum was built in 1511 in the Zona Colonial (Colonial Zone) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic by decision of Spain Crown, to hold meetings for military and governmental purposes. Besides, it was constructed with first quality stones to beautify its structure. This house has two interconnected buildings. Onen of them functioned as the palace of governors and the other as a royal court. It is divided into two floors that hold a total of twenty showrooms. The first is made up of different galleries that houses collections focused on discovery, conquest, and evangelization. On the second floor, there is the Audience Gallery, exhibitions on legislation, the Room of Family Life, arms rooms, etc. One curious element is found in this monument, the only shield of Queen Juana la Loca is displayed here. The things that are shown in this museum are related to the history of the Discovery, the Conquest, and the Spanish Colonization of Santo Domingo Island. This place opens from Tuesday to Sunday from 9AM to 5PM.

            In addition, The Royal Houses Museum is very interesting. It calls the attention of the public because of its eye-catching view. It is a really big house that covers a very long area. It has 2 horizontal lines of windows, showing that it has two stories, and it is also unpainted. In front of it, there are some palm trees decorating the area to give a little more color to its panorama. Another thing is that this house has many stains, apparently due to age. Every window is square and visually empty, just the holes on the wall are seen. The same happens to the doors, they look as if they were empty, too. All the windows have the same size, and the doors have a curve on the top. This house has many different geometric figures in its physical structure.

            It is important to note, that the Royal Houses Museum has a very beautiful structure and is well managed. It would not be good to remodel or change it because of its unique design. The people in charge have managed it well so far since they have created a defined schedule with specific hours for visitors to get to know this museum, including schools and university groups. This way, students can have a good experience and also learn about the history of their country, and the uses that were given to this museum in the colonial times. Occasionally, there should be some kind of artistic performances like dances, plays, singing, and others. All these could be done with the intention of attracting the attention of the public and making this place a little more interesting. These dynamic activities would help not only the guided excursions, but also give life to the historical events that occurred in this place in the past.

            To summarize, an extensive history is preserved in the the Royal Houses Museum. The whole place is unique. Also, people can enjoy different attractions in the entire monument. It is highly important to learn about the events of the past and much more this beautiful building offers.

San Francisco de Macorís 2021