When reading Becoming Naomi Leon, by Pam Munoz Ryan, I found myself intrigued by the character of Owen. After our talk about the portrayals of people that have disabilities, I couldn't help but notice that he was portrayed in two different ways.
The one way he was portrayed, was as being accepted. Naomi, Gram, and all the people that were part of that little neighborhood of friends accepted Own for who he was. They focused on how intelligent he was, not on how he looked or the fact that he wore tape all the time as a form of comfort.
When Owen's mother came into the picture Owen was no longer accepted for who he was. The mother was embarressed of her own child and did not know how to deal with his condition. On page 104 of the book the mother does not even believe Naomi when she tells her that he gets straight A's in school. Gram ended up winning custody of the children based on the fact that Skyla did not want both of her children. She only wanted Naomi, because she never knew how to deal with Owen.
When reading this I was angry at Skyla's character for not accepting her own son. I was wondering if anyone else felt this outraged when reading the book.
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I definately agree about being outraged at how Owen was treated. Yet,I think the author may have used this to show how Grams knew the children much better and loved them for who they are; as compared to their mother who tried to push Owen out of her life because he wasn't "normal".
I thought Owen was a very interesting character in the text and also thought he played a major role in how acceptance is a theme of the book, as well!
I was immensely outraged at Skyla for being that way towards her son. When I got to the end of the book where she did not get custody of her kids, I was overjoyed because Owen would not have been able to have a happy life without his sister or with his mother at all. I was so excited that Naomi stood up for Owen when she told Skyla he got straight A's. I was proud of her for that and I was appreciative to Pam Munoz Ryan for focusing on what he did do instead of what he couldn't do.
I completely agree with the feeling of anger when I read the parts about his mother. This is actually what I focused my paper on. The point of acceptance and I used Owen as the focus character. I couldn't believe some of the things that Skyla said about her own son...her flesh and blood! One point I brought up in my paper was, where is her maternal instinct? How could you not accept your own son? She goes further on to be embarrassed by her own son. At one point in the story she called Owen crippled which brought rage to me because I just think that is such a horrible word to describe a person with a disability.
I definitely agree with your interest in Owen! Although I did find the book interesting as a whole and one that I would use in my classroom, I was drawn to Owen as well! I actually wrote my paper on him this week. I'm not sure if it was because of our past experience with disabilities or what, but I just thought he was the perfect character to analyze.
I was looking around at the blogs and I again came across this post. I remembered that a while back I wanted to comment on it because of the anger I also felt but I wasn't sure I was able to post on another section. Either way I'm posting now just to totally agree with your thoughts about Skyla. I too feel as though it is very wrong for Skyla to in a way dis own her own son just because of his differences. I acutally felt that it was as though she deep down knew he was different but didn't want to admit it because then it could possibly be her fault. I feel as though she treated Naomi better in sort of an attempt to make up for Owen. It made me mad that so much emphasis was placed on Skyla viewing Owen as not "normal" when I believe who's to say what "normal" really is. I understand where the author was going in a way with this perception, but I still was also angered at the favoritism Skyla showed between her children.
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