Ortiz 1

Kimberly Ortiz

English 101

Professor Batty

9 May 2018

Forgive and Forget

“Alex Espinoza’s Still Water Saints is a cycle of tales as perfect as the beads of a rosary. One

alone is a little miracle; the whole together is capable of renewing one’s faith in new fiction.”

– Sandra Cisneros

The novel Still Water Saints by Alex Espinoza takes place in Agua Mansa where Perla,

the curadora of the little town and the main character, owns a botanica. Perla is the center of the

novel since she is the one that meets and knows all the characters of the novel. They all have

their own problems and they go to her store to find something to help them with their personal

situations. Nancy Perez was one of those characters that knew Perla and dropped by at her

botanica to get something for her mother. Nancy Perez Had bumped heads with her father for

most of her life. During her teenage years, Nancy was rebellious and always gave her father a

hard time. She separated from her family during her college years, when she graduated, Nancy

went down to visit her parents along with her boyfriend who proposed to her on the way there.

Nancy arrived at her parent’s and kept her engagement a secret for a while. When she finally

blurted the news out her father busted out racist comments. Nancy got out of her parent’s house

in bad terms with her father and did not forgive him for years, but at the end of her section,

Nancy hints on forgiving her father. Nancy’s story may be relatable to many people in real life

and it encourages all to forgive and forget.

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It is always best to live without rage, secrets, and anger towards anyone, because once

that person is gone for good, one regrets not making peace or telling that person what they feel. I

speak from personal experience because when my father and best friend passed away I regretted

and still regret not opening up to them about my feelings and thoughts. There were so many

things on my mind and so many feelings that involved them and when they were gone my

chances of looking at them and telling them I am sorry or anything I ever wanted had slipped

away in an instant. In Nancy’s case, her father might be going through a leg amputation and he

was said to have diabetes. At this point, Nancy should be thinking about the surgery and the risks

that her father might be exposed to. The leg amputation can get infected or never heal due to his

disease and can cause his death. According to the article “Podiatric foot health screening could

save millions of dollars by preventing diabetic amputations” the author, Venetia Lai states, “As

many as 1 in 4 diabetic Californians develop damaging toe, foot and leg ulcers which could lead

to amputation and elevated risk of death, according to the study (Lai).” This study reveals that

Nancy’s father has a slight chance of surviving the surgery and I believe that Nancy should be

the bigger person in forgiving her father because the chances of her getting another chance to do

so are very small. As for other people as well, in any situation it might be, one should always

step up and be the ones to forgive or try to gain forgiveness because a person can be gone in a

blink of an eye.

Although many religious and cultural people think that Nancy’s father was doing the

right thing because Nancy’s wrong doings in the past, I believe that he was wrong in pushing her

away and spitting out racist comments because times are changing, and you now start to see

many multicultural families or partners and it is normal for teens to be rebellious. From what I

live through, my family has certain expectations on who I date. They depend on the race and
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religion of the boy I am dating. In a way they expect my boyfriend to be Latino and Catholic like

us. My family grew up in Guatemala and they still follow some rules that were expected from

them to follow when growing up. So, I know what religious and cultural families and parents

expect from a family member, but I always tend to make them understand that many of these

beliefs and rules they are follow do not apply to many people today. The Spectator in the article

“Religion is on the decline – yet our society is underpinned by faith” reveals that “According to a

survey we are no longer a Christian country, but then neither — for all the squeals over sharia

law — are we becoming much of a Muslim country, or indeed any other religion. Just 6 per cent

of us profess a faith other than Christianity, down from 8 per cent last year (The Spectator).”

This proves that society is changing at a fast rate and beliefs that were worshiped before are not

being followed by society anymore. Nancy is part of the society that has changed and her father

of that part that sticks to the conservative society. Times are changing, and Nancy should be

allowed to date and do whoever and whatever she wants.

Nancy should also step up to apologize to her father or gain forgiveness from him before

it is too late because she would be living in regret. A person living in regret is a wrong way to

live and can bring various health problems. In the article “Psychology of Regret” the author,

Melanie Greenberg, lists all the different health problems that come with living in regret. She

expresses, “This pattern of repetitive, negative, self-focused ruminative thinking is characteristic

of depression and may be a cause of this mental health problem as well.” (Greenberg). Nancy

should also be thinking about herself and her health because not making peace between her

father and herself. It is also great that she hints on thinking about making peace because she

starts to feel bad about her father’s surgery.

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Overall, Nancy takes certain steps to show that at the end she does care about her father

and seems to show sympathy for him. Nancy should always think about how her father will not

be living forever and that living in regret comes with various complications and health issues.

Her father should also be thinking about how times are changing and what was expected from

people before is not expected now. Nancy’s section of Still Water Saints delivers the message of

forgiving and forgetting because one must always make right decisions before it is too late.
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Works Cited

Espinoza, Alex. Still Water Saints: A Novel. Picador, 2013.

Greenberg, Melanie. “The Psychology of Regret.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 16 May

2012, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201205/the-psychology-

regret.

Lai, Venetia. “UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.” UCLA Center for Health Policy

Research, 28 June 2017, www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/newsroom/press-

releases/pages/details.aspx?NewsID=277.

Spectator, The. “Religion Is on the Decline - Yet Our Society Is Underpinned by Faith.” The

Spectator, 9 Sept. 2017, www.spectator.co.uk/2017/09/religion-is-on-the-decline-yet-our-

society-is-underpinned-by-faith/.