Mario Vargas Llosa's "On Sunday"

When I reading "On Sunday" for the first time I wanted to keep reading to see what would happen in the story. To be honest, that was my main goal with my first read though. I was anxious to see what would happen instead of focusing on the turning point or the boys' coming of age. When I started to read the piece I immediately felt connected to the characters in the short story through Vargas Llosa's way of writing. When I read the part that said, "I've got to get a move on...Slowly, he stretched out his left hand until it touched hers; the contact made him aware that he was sweating. He begged for some miracle to happen, for that humiliation to be over. What do I say to her now? he thought..." I could see and feel the diliberation, nervousness and struggle that Miguel was going through. This scene allowed me to see into the character of Miguel away from the "boys" (the gang of the Hawks).

As I read I was a little unsure of the age of the characters but I assumed that they were in their teenage years...I guess it was because of the immature nature of the characters actions that I was thrown off. When the Miguel and Ruben, actually quite drunk, jumped into the water at the end of the piece I was really shocked. Inside my head, as I read, I was yelling, "You idiots! What is wrong with you?!? Are you crazy?" However, this scene did draw me even further into the piece because I was curious as to if they would be okay or if someone would die.

In reaction to the "coming of age" of Ruben and Miguel, I am unsure that because of their near death experience that they truly "came of age." In my own personal opinion I do not think that the two boys truly changed that much because of what happened in the water. I would have liked to have seen a snipet of what the two characters were like after the "incident" to see if they really had been changed for effected long term. Over all, this was a good story though.