Thoughts of a Stranger

[i] Fragments are one of the literary devices that Cisneros uses to show and make sure that the reader knows exactly what she is going to talk about in the next sentence. This is unique because not many other authors write in this style. An example of a chapter that she uses this in is page 23 when she just says “Louie’s family.”

[ii] This is another unique form of writing that Cisneros uses. By capitalizing a word in the middle of a sentence she adds intensity and stronger meaning to the word that she is capitalizing. She does this to show that the capitalized word is a key word in what she is talking about. She uses this in the chapter “Alicia who Sees Mice” to make the word stick out maybe because it has some significance.

[iii] A lot of description about nouns is another factor of Cisnero’s styles. In almost all of the chapters that Cisneros wrote, she makes Esperanza describe all the things she sees. She probably does this so that reading her book is exactly like watching the real thing and so that you can see in your mind every detail of what she is describing. Cisneros uses a lot of description in the “Monkey Garden.”

[iv] A key factor in Cisnero’s special writing style is that she uses Spanish slang to show the reader her perspective of what she thinks about certain nouns. The slang isn’t only one adjective, but it contains many other feelings, thoughts, and emotions that you are looking at from the point of view of the main character. One good Spanish word that Cisneros uses of ten in the chapter “No Speak English” is “mamacita.” This is a good word because it expresses many ideas about the person describing. It can mean that she is fat, big, sexy, small, and/or skinny. There can be so many adjectives in just one word.

[v] Even though Cisneros doesn’t write the word help in the book many times she is always making the main character of the book feel sympathy for the people and environments around her. Most of the time, Cisneros does this by describing the person that she feels sympathy for. She talks about the person or thing in a way where she wants to show us ways of how the main character feels empathy, sympathy, or wants to do something for the person. For example in the chapter “Rafaela who Drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice on Tuesdays” Cisneros shows that Esperanza feels sympathy for Rafaela because she can never go out and is always laying her head on her hand on the window.

[vi]   Another factor of Cisneros style is her sentence structure. She uses commas and starts with the same word after the comma. She uses many commas to create run-on sentences to contribute to the form of her writing. Sometimes she doesn’t use commas at all and keeps on writing and writing. Maybe she does this to create a huge sentence of phrases that the reader then has to break into smaller bits to understand what Cisneros is truly saying.

[vii] Perhaps one the most important literary devices that Cisneros uses in her writing is repetition. She does this because she wants to add power to that word and she wants to show us that during that moment, the feelings, emotions, and thoughts of the main character are very intense and fast. I think that the strongest chapter that repetition is used in is “Red Clowns” because that is when Esperanza experiences strong emotions.

[viii] Cisneros also uses rhyming in her writing. She does this so that the reader can read the sentences fluently and it also adds poetry to her writing because rhyming is the most common factor in poetry. This rhyming also allows each of the lines of her paragraphs to be well connected to each other.

[ix] Another unique factor in Cisneros writing style is that she always makes the women suffer; she never makes boys the victims of anything. She probably does this to show us that there is still discrimination against women in parts of the world. She also may say that even though men have jobs and work all day, being a housewife is a lot tougher. She does this by saying that the women are always under distress and anxiety to get something or finish something. She especially uses the thinking on the window phrase to show that what women have is never enough and that they are always sad for some reason. Chapters that support this are “No Speak English, Rafaela who drinks Coconut and Papaya Juice on Tuesdays, etc.

[x] Run-ons also show and make sure that the reader knows what Cisneros is talking about. This effect is produced because Cisneros starts with this one big complex phrase and then bit by bit she starts breaking down that phrase into a small phrase. This way the reader can understand exactly what she is saying just like if the reader were Cisneros writing that phrase. Cisneros uses this a lot to emphasize and give a lot of meaning to a big phrase that continues for a long time until you cant break it down anymore.

[xi] This ending is also a very important key in Cisneros writing style. She always blames the husband for the suffering of the family or women. After describing the burdens of each family she always says that it isn’t the families fault, but the husbands fault because he is the liar who comes home every day, very late while the rest of the family is asleep and he collapses on the bed or sofa. Cisneros makes us think that he works his heart out, but then the wife wakes up and finds him with a bottle of alcohol in his hand. It is the husband in those times and places that hurts the family not physically, but emotionally.