Tepeyac Sandra Cisneros Analysis

The speaker in "Tepeyac" by Sandra Cisneros the story describes, in present tense, a typical weekday evening spent in Mexico in the past.City where she lives or is staying with her grandparents. The story is first person, the setting is northern part of Mexico City at a market (plaza) and the two vocabulary I picked from the story is arabesque and sastreria. The vocabulary word definitions are sastreria is tailor's shop, and arabesque means branch out in complex, intertwining lines. So the plot or story begins when she walks home with her grandfather from his shop, describing the places and people they pass. They count the steps from the street to their front door together and go into their supper; from that house, she says, she will return
The young speakers in this section (including the speaker in "Tepeyac," who "becomes" an adult only as her story ends) are excellently realized because they notice particulars and report them: the smashed-bug-on-the-windshield color inside a cat's-eye marble, the stickiness of a melting orange Popsicle, a child's shadow falling on a movie screen, every item on every table at a sidewalk flea market (or an inclusive selection). They report as well the intense emotions of childhood and, all in all, capture perfectly for the reader the essence of being a child. We are reminded of Sandra Cisneros' early determination to write out of (although not necessarily about) her own particular experience and are able to see how that experience informs her characters' voices with authenticity. Perhaps it is important, then, to remember that these stories can be read on different levels. Cisneros' characters will speak directly and honestly to young readers and will remind older readers of feelings we have if we were lucky known once but probably forgotten. Readers who share Cisneros' Latino background may recognize her perspective, but readers of other backgrounds will hardly be puzzled by