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Illness
Vulnerability

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Hope
Ambition
Freedom

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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In the text Esperanza's poem portrays the feeling of being trapped through the use of simile. In the poem she begins by by explaining how she wishes to be like many things - all of which free, open, flowing, forces but then says she cannot as she is just herself. By phrasing the poem in this manner it expresses to the reader how Esperanza believes she cannot be free and is instead trapped. Trapped in her own life, trapped on Mango street.

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In the vignette "Elenita, Cards, Palm, Water" Cisneros expresses the theme of envy and wishing to be someone different through the use of connotation, metaphor, and allusion.

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Esperanza is reciting a poem she once read for her aunt.

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Regret
Disappointment

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Favorability
Happiness
Innocence

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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This text helps the reader to understand the theme of wishing to be different which is being made apparent through the use of metaphor. The quote uses the metaphor "a home in the heart" to explain what Elenita has foretold for Esperanza's future. Esperanza however, is aware that the metaphor is purely symbolic and as such is unpleased as she wished to be someone else; someone with a better life and a real house.

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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The theme being portrayed by this text is that of envy. This is conveyed by the connotation in the quote. Esperanza in the text first complements the T.V. and furniture in her description of the home. Then, by comparing the furniture to that of a teddy bear at a carnival she adds a positive connotation to the house. Carnivals and stuffed bears are associated with happiness and positivity so making this comparison shows how much Esperanza adores the house in comparison to her own. This shows that Esperanza is envious a life similar to that much more enjoyable and she would prefer to have a life like that.

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As Esperanza gets her fortune told Elenita promises that there is "a home in the heart" in her future. This displeases Esperanza as she hopes for a literal home rater than a symbolic one.

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As Esperanza goes to get her fortune told she describes the surrounding in Elenita's home to the reader.

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"Ah, yes, a home in the heart. I see a home in the heart.
Is that it?" (Cisneros 64)

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"Her T.V. is color and big and all her pretty furniture's made out of red fur like the teddy bears they give away in carnivals." (Cisneros 62)

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Innocence
Envy

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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In this quote Cisneros conveys the major theme of wanting to be someone your not. This is portrayed through the use of allusion. In the text Cisneros references "Bugs Bunny" a popular cartoon and by doing so allows the reader to further understand what she is writing about. This shows that she would rather be enjoying her childhood watching a cartoon rather than facing her fate at the hands of a fortune

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Esperanza is going to get her fortune told, but instead she wishes to sit with Ernie and the baby and watch Bugs Bunny on T.V. because she finds it more entertaining and nostalgic.

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Weakness
Broken

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"I want to be like the waves on the sea, like the clouds in the wind, but I'm me. One day i'll jump out of my skin. I'll shake the sky like a hundred violins." (Cisneros 60-61).

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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By adding the use of the word "drowning" Cisneros is using connotation to express to the reader a situation in which one is completely helpless, ever sinking into their inevitable demise with no hope of escape; completely trapped.

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Esperanza is depicting how her aunt once used to have strong and healthy legs which are now weak and unable to support her.

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"Hard to imagine her legs... not bent and wrinkled like a baby, not drowning under the sticky yellow light." (Cisneros 59).

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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What theme/big idea is being conveyed by Cisneros?  How does the use of literary devices help convey the theme?

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Cisneros is conveying a theme of helplessness and being trapped. In the text it explains how Esperanza's aunt is feeling trapped within the confines of her own body as due to her illness she is unable to move and take care of her self.

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Esperanza is describing her late aunt's sickness.

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“a little piece of meat on an open shell for us to look at." (Cisneros 60).

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Cisneros uses metaphors, similes, and connotations within the vignette "Born Bad" in order to emphasize the theme of feeling trapped and helpless within your own uncontrollable life.

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“There is a good Bugs Bunny cartoon on T.V. I know, I saw it before and recognize the music and wish I could go sit on the plastic couch with Ernie and the baby, but now my fortune begins.” (Cisneros 63)