Olivia

Running

Thud, thump, thud, thump. The rhythmic sound of my feet pounding the trail, jumping over rocks, and carrying me somewhere, I don’t know where, but I’m running. It feels good to run, to push the body, to forget about life. Breathing slowly. Oxygen, or lack thereof. It serves as therapy, a way to think but take a step back.

This isn’t so bad, it shouldn’t be this hard, I tell myself. Stress has become a big part of my life; my mom says it’s unhealthy if at 14 I’m stressed because its only supposed to happen when you are an adult. So I guess when I become an adult I’ll be having frequent panic attacks if I’m stressed already. Thud thump thud thump. What about those starving little kids in Africa? I’m lucky, but I don’t feel so lucky. I must be the most ungrateful kid on the planet, even though the little kid on the bus started screaming about not getting candy. Is candy really that great to scream for? That doesn’t matter. I don’t get to eat candy very much anyways. It’s not really happening though, hasn’t even started yet. Thump thump thump thump. Throw the rock before the dog gets to me.

I’m scared and nervous. Shocked too. It’s all his fault. Yea his, the Big Boss, taking him away and so so far far away. Why? The big red mountain looks angry. Am I angry? Nah….just stressed. I have to breathe slowly, calms me down and then I don’t yell at my sister. Am I ready or not? Daddy said it’s time to step up, and be strong, so I will I tell him. I will. Except that other people know, other people try to talk. I don’t like talking to them so I don’t I keep it inside and pull away from people. What do people do when it gets too hard? Well my temper gets bad, and then I don’t talk. And don’t talk and listen to angry music.

Well why do you listen to angry music? my mom asks.

I like it

But its depressing, how can you like it?

I dunno, just do

And suddenly I’m back, so I’m done, and its over with. My sides are moving up and down from running so so fast and so so far , but I like that feeling, I feel good and strong and I like it. Time to go home and start all over and over again, just like today and just like yesterday and swallowing hard, very very hard. There’s a cliff that’s crumbling, and I’m looking down, down, down, but down is a very long way to fall.

1)     The title is simple and doesn’t have a deeper meaning. This is the same in Hairs, A Rice Sandwich, and Alicia and I talking on Edna’s Steps; where the title may describe what’s happening, but isn’t thematic.

2)     Onamatopoeia is used in The House on Mango Street, thump thud is an onomatopoeia to describe the sound of feet hitting the ground. In Hips, the sound of the rope hitting pavement is onomatopoeic – “tick-ticking”(p.52).

3)     Personification – feet are personified to “carry” in this viniette. In Four Skinny Trees the tres are compared to Esperanza, and personified “grab the earth between their hairy toes”. (p.74).

4)     Fragment. Cisneros often uses fragments in her chapters, for example: In Sire, as she describes her determination to look into the boy’s eyes she uses the fragment “And I did”. (72).

5)     Reference to what someone else says – Esperanza makes references to what Sally or Marin say. In Marin, “ What matters, Marin says, is for the boys to see us and for us to see them”. (27).

6)     Questioning candy – off topic. In A Rice Sandwich, Esperanza makes the reference “I can’t even blow up a balloon without getting dizzy” (p.44), which is off topic.

7)     Denial – in Red Clown “I don’t remember. It was dark. I don’t remember” (p.100). Esperanza is denying what happened by saying she does not remember.

8)     Reference to what’s currently happening when she is thinking or describing. In Chanclas as she is lamenting her ordinary shoes she says “I shake my head no” (47) when she is asked to dance.

9)     Blame someone else for the problem – Esperanza blames Sally for what happened to her in Red Clowns; “Sally, you lied” (99).

10)   Incorrect grammar – no quotation marks. Throughout The House On Mango Street, there is no use whatsoever of the quotation mark. “Names for clouds? Nenny asks. Names just like you and me?” (36).

11)   Not being specific – Esperanza often “beats around the bush” when it comes to the issue and isn’t specific. She does this is Red Clowns, “Only his dirty fingernails against my skin, only his sour smell again. The moon that watched. The tilt-a-whirl.” and “then the colors began to whirl. Sky tipped. Their high black gym shoes ran.” (100). She does not state what happened, rather implies or just shows how she feels about it.

12)   Lack of quotation marks – Cisneros does not use quotation marks once in the book. “Not that old song, I say” (p.52).

13)   Repetition – used throughout The House On Mango Street. In Four Skinny Trees, the trees are said to “keep keeping” and “to be and be” (p.75).

14) Metaphor – Esperanza compare herself to a red ballon in Boys and Girls. “Until then I am a red balloon, a red balloon tied to an anchor.” (9).