The Distance Between Us Summary Chapter 17-23 PDF

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The Distance Between Us summary of chapter 17-23....

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The Distance Between Us Summary Chapters 17 – 23 

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Chapter 17 o Reyna joins the All City Marching Band. She has to swap her beloved saxophone for bells. The bells cause her hearing loss later in life. o Reyna makes out with Axel during the bus rides to band practice at Dodger Stadium for the Rose Parade. o Axel is ashamed of Reyna and won’t commit as her boyfriend. o Axel asks a cheerleader to prom and not Reyna. She pretends like she doesn’t care but starts to act out towards her bandmates. o Mago takes her out dancing to make her feel better about her boy troubles. o Mago has dropped out of college to work full time so she can pay off debt. Chapter 18 o Papi buys Carlos a car as a gift for staying in school. o This really upsets Mago. o Carlos is able to see his girlfriend more frequently with his car. o He eventually drops out of school, works full time, marries, and has a son. o Papi is very disappointed. Chapter 19 o Reyna is a high school senior. o Mami receives legal residency through the Immigration Reform Act. She sells Avon at the swap meet. o Mago, Mago’s friend, mami, and Reyna go on a trip to Mexico. Mago pays for the trip. o Reyna reflects on her life in Mexico. o Reyna visits friends and notices how poor they are. o Mago and Reyna get in fight. Mago is upset at how long she was gone. Reyna almost hits Mago. o They eventually make up. Chapter 20 o Mago and her friend rent an apartment together. o This really upsets Reyna because she is afraid of losing her. She asks to live with them, but Mago declines saying there is no room for her. o Reyna is now the drum major for All City Marching Band. She led the band at the Christmas Parade. Papi did not come. o Reyna is accepted to UC Irvine, but papi refuses to fill out the paperwork she needs for the school. o Papi is angry about Mago moving out and takes it out on Reyna by beating her and refusing to help her with her future. o Papi does not allow Mago to visit Reyna.

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o Mila tells Reyna that Mago is pregnant. Chapter 21 o Reyna becomes depressed at the news of Mago’s pregnancy. o She refuses to leave her room and even urinates in a bucket. o Reyna loses her virginity to her boyfriend Steve. She does this to get back at her father. o Reyna answers a flyer about modeling. She goes to the location, but the men there ask her to take off her clothes. She runs out. o Reyna breaks up with Steve because they were having unprotected sex. o Reyna enrolls at Pasadena College. Chapter 22 o At college, Reyna enrolls in an English class. o It here’s that she meets Professor Diana Sava. o Papi has an affair. A huge fight between him and Mila ensures, and he is arrested. o Reyna moves out of papi’s house and moves in with mami. o Unfortunately, Mami lives in a dangerous part of town. Ryan is chased home by men one night. o Diana offers to let Reyna move in with her. o Diana is incredibly encouraging of Reyna’s writing. o With Diana’s encouragement Reyna starts to win awards and scholarships. Chapter 23 o Mila has left papi. o Reyna graduates from Pasadena College. o Reyna moves in with Papi after Carlos says he needs her. o They reconnect, and Reyna starts to bring over her boyfriend Edwin. o Edwin is studying to become a psychologist and papi loves talking to him. o Papi begins to mend his broken relationships with his children. o Reyna finally feels like he is the father she always wanted to grow up. o Mila makes up with papi. However, she will only commit if he gets rid of his kids. o He chooses Mila over his kids. Chapter 24 o Reyna moves out of papi’s house. o She is accepted to the University of California. o She leaves to move into an apartment there. o Edwin helps her move and tells her that papi is proud of her, but he doesn’t want to be lonely anymore or hold her back. o Reyna recalls a childhood trip to the beach with her father when he held onto her hand in the ocean. She realizes that she must finally let go of her father’s hand. o “I looked at the ocean, and I realized there was no need to be afraid I had gotten this far, despite everything. Now, all I had to do was focus on why I was there—to

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make my dreams a reality. I closed my eyes, and I saw myself at the water’s edge, holding tightly to my fathers callused hand. And I let it go” Epilogue o Reyna graduated with her BA in creative writing from UCSC. o Her whole family attended her graduation. o She considers the US to be her home but will never forget where she came from. o She has mended her relationship with Mila. He children even call her grandma Mila. o She struggled to forgive her father, but realized that despite everything, her made her who she is today. Connections o Dialogic Civility: Edwin used therapeutic language with papi. This proved to be quite successful as papi opened up to him in many ways he had never done before. This allowed him to begin to mend his broken relationships with his children. o Communication and the Human Condition: Reyna yearns for her father to care about her. By caring about her, he would have concern for her suffering. Unfortunately, there are very few moments when papi is willing to develop a story based on caring because he does not put their relationship before himself....