Saskia

Golden

 

 

We count the days left. 23[1]. And even though it has never been that much of an important date for us, we still give it the importance it deserves.

 

Tall trees.

 

Bright lights.

 

Golden plastic balls.[2]

 

We can only wish that maybe someday, maybe we’d have a proper Christmas, not just only a warm homemade food and a ‘Merry Christmas’.[3]

 

The day dad appears at home with a small sized pine under his arm and a sad smile on his face, for one second, Nenny and I start idealizing the idea of having a tree, with bright red and green lights, and those golden plastic balls.[4] And maybe silver guirnaldas[5]. The idea even went further, we even thought that maybe it was going to be a Christmas with presents. Maybe.

 

We approached the tree like ants that innocently approach a glass of sweet lemonade. Not realizing the consequences. [6]

 

We had never really owned a Christmas tree.

 

Can we decorate the tree?[7] Nenny asks looking up at our father. The look on her face is hopeful and the look on my father’s face looks even guiltier with each passing second. He shakes his head and gives her that same sad smile. [8]

 

Maybe next year. He sighs. He leaves the tree in the coat closet, and we already know that it is going to lay there forgotten until the season’s over.

 

Can we put the tree in the living room? Nenny insists with the tree, hopefulness growing on her face, dad’s face growing guiltier.

 

Maybe next year and he goes upstairs.

 

We were close this year, but it still remains as maybe next year[9] [10].


[1] In some of Cisneros’ chapters (for example Hips), she uses songs or rhymes that appeal to the current situation. The song I chose is called Mookie’s Last Christmas, and just like in Hips Cisneros used a song to express how excited the girls were with the fact that they were going to have hips. I used a song to express the excitement they felt when Christmas was coming.

[2] Fragments can also be found in many of the chapters of House on Mango Street. They are usually used to emphasize a fact or a description, that way, it’s easier to remember some important things. In House on Mango Street’s chapter “Born Bad”, she uses the word “Dark” to describe her aunt. It is a fragment that includes only one word, and from that you can either think that she referred to the color of her skin or her attitude. The fragments I used describe an idealized Christmas celebration, that probably is far from anyone’s regular Christmas.

[3] Imagery is also another literary device Cisneros uses. Almost in every chapter, Cisneros uses imagery to describe the way Esperanza or other character feels about something, without bluntly stating it. In the chapter Edna’s Ruthie the sentence “Ruthie looked at the sky and her eyes got watery at times.” With this

piece of imagery we can tell that Ruthie was feeling sad and looking at the sky was an attempt to pretend that she wasn’t. The point of my imagery is to express how disappointed Esperanza felt during Christmas because, according to her, it wasn’t like Christmas should be. They were poor, and because of that maybe they didn’t have money to spend on presents or on trees or any Christmas decoration.

[4] Run on sentence. Cisneros uses run on sentences just to continue talking about one specific subject. In the chapter Meme Ortiz she uses a run on sentence to describe Meme’s dog, and how the dog and the owner are similar. In my run on sentence, the reaction of Esperanza and Nenny is described. And also because of the ‘and’s to enumerate the things, you can tell that she’s excited because when people are excited they could care less about using different conjunctions or even transitions.

[5] Guirnalda = Garland. In many chapters of The House on Mango Street, for example in Gil’s Furniture Bought and Sold the author uses the word marimbas to describe the sound of the music box. Whenever Cisneros lets a Spanish word slip, it doesn’t sound awkward or out of place. It perfectly fits, because these words refer to Esperanza’s real nationality. Even though Cisneros isn’t Mexican or Latina, she has Mexican heritage and it seems like it has a great influence in her writing.

 

[6] Another literary device used by Cisneros is the simile. Mostly, she uses metaphors like I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor in the “Boys & Girls” chapter. However, she also utilizes similes like in the chapter A House of My Own, where she writes “Only a house as quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.” She’s comparing the quiet to snow. In my simile, I compare Esperanza and Nenny to ants. Ants always go looking for something sweet, and sometimes their desire for the sweet can be so great, that they don’t think it twice when they approach a glass of lemonade way too much and causes them to die.

[7] Cisneros doesn’t use any dialogue punctuation. Sometimes it is confusing to know when the conversation starts and when it ends. For example in Cathy Queen of Cats, Cisneros writes: “She says, I am the great great grand cousin of the queen of France.” When I first read that sentence, I thought that Cathy was saying that Esperanza was a great great grand cousin of the Queen of France, but in fact Cathy was talking about herself.

[8] Another characteristic of Cisneros’ writing is that she doesn’t use transitions. Well, transitions besides ‘and’. Her sentences are pretty choppy and mostly they start with a personal pronoun. A good example is when Cisneros describes the neighborhood Esperanza lives in in the chapter Cathy Queen of Cats: “Benny and Bianca own the corner store. They’re okay except don’t lean on the candy counter. Two girls raggedy as rats live across the street.”

[9] Repetition. Cisneros uses repetition to show the intensity of the characters’ feelings. For example, in Red Clowns she repeats “Sally, you lied.” to demonstrate how betrayed she felt because her friend (probably the only one that could be considered to be her best friend) had lied to her about something and she had trusted her completely. The repetition of “Maybe” in my pastiche, appears throughout the text to show that no matter what, there’s always hope for everything. They’re not supposed to be poor forever and they’re not meant to not have a proper Christmas every year.

[10] Cisneros italicizes some words in her chapters to give them a special meaning or a meaningful emphasis. In the chapter “The House on Mango Street”, Cisneros emphasizes: “You live there?” to show how disgusted the nun was when she realized where Esperanza lived. I italicized the words maybe next year to show hope, which is one of this pastiche’s themes.