Forum: Author Hangout

I just started a story where the author gave a lot of background. Like this:

Maria and Louis came from a small, poor town deep in Mexico. Their mother, once upon a time, had been a schoolteacher and her dream was to one-day see her children go to America, so they could have an opportunity she never had. She forced them to learn English from the age of six and made them speak it at home when no one else was around.

But a little later, I read this:

"How come you speak such good English?" Beckman asked the young Mexican girl.

"My mother taught me and my brother from the age of six. She wanted us to be prepared for when we came to America," the young girl answered.

Why did the author have to tell that info earlier? This would have worked just fine.

The first paragraph gives the reader a sense of the effort that the mother put into the futures of her children. it's evidence of determination and struggle on her part and acceptance on the part of the children.

In the second paragraph, the young girl's answer gives little evidence of that effort. She gives out what the questioner asks, but the reader knows that the sense of purpose and determination exist behind the easy statement.