When Gomez explains the “narrow hips, straight hair, flat stomach, and small feet” (Gomez, 371) of other women. This is the first time in the story where we see her start to feel uncomfortable, insecure about her body. Her grandmother then began teaching her to swim, but proudly, years later, this is the moment Gomez looked back and realized how beautiful and independent her grandmother was. Although her grandmother was beautiful and independent, Gomez was still too young at the time to understand how and why. “It was a place where we had to feel comfortable at best and hunted at worst.” (Gomez, 373) Gomez was still looking at the smaller painting; she looked at what was going on around her and only judged based on what she saw instead of listening and learning from the bigger picture her grandmother was trying to teach her. Thanks to her grandmother Lydia, Gomez learned to gain self-respect and confidence at a young age. Memories, details and images were all used in his short story "A Swimming Lesson". Although "A Swimming Lesson" was not the only work Gomez wrote about discrimination against African Americans, he has various other works including poems, essays, and others