Literary Analysis of the Poem Quinceañera
Literary Analysis of the Poem Quinceañera
The poem Quinceañera was written by Judith Ortiz Cofer. The narrative of this poem circumnavigates about the coming of age event (a quinceañer) of a 15 year old girl. in order to understand this poem ,one needs to understand the significance and importance of a quinceañera. A quinceañera is the Latin equivalent of the celebration of Sweet 16 in the United States— this is the time where young women celebrate the transition into young adulthood. The poem is written from the first person perspective and it is conveyed in the sense that the narrator is the girl approaching her 15th birthday . One of the major themes of the poem is growth— in this case the growth is inevitable and not embraced with open arms. In the poem, the narrator approaches this coming of age with torn feelings. The overall tone of the poem is serious and almost dark. The seriousness is conveyed with the lines “...like dead children in a chest...” and “...as if the fluids of my body were poisons...”. The seriousness of the event is obvious in the correlation of the narrators menses with the crucifixion of Christ. The line of the poem that further supports the seriousness of the tone is “Is it not the blood of saints and in battle beautiful? Do Christ’s hands not bleed into your eyes from his cross? “ This religious inflection and wartime comparison convey feelings of darkness and impending gloom. The structure of this poem also lends itself to more serious and dramatic tone with the constant repetition of certain phrases. It is apparent that the narrator views her coming of age as a death of an era and an abrupt introduction into a new chapter of life. The narrator seems sad, torn and even uptight about the occasion. The new era is symbolized with several lines within the poem. In one instance she describes the feeling of her new slip , which could symbolize the veil of her newly developed sexuality that comes with maturity. Also, one could take note
The poem Quinceañera was written by Judith Ortiz Cofer. The narrative of this poem circumnavigates about the coming of age event (a quinceañer) of a 15 year old girl. in order to understand this poem ,one needs to understand the significance and importance of a quinceañera. A quinceañera is the Latin equivalent of the celebration of Sweet 16 in the United States— this is the time where young women celebrate the transition into young adulthood. The poem is written from the first person perspective and it is conveyed in the sense that the narrator is the girl approaching her 15th birthday . One of the major themes of the poem is growth— in this case the growth is inevitable and not embraced with open arms. In the poem, the narrator approaches this coming of age with torn feelings. The overall tone of the poem is serious and almost dark. The seriousness is conveyed with the lines “...like dead children in a chest...” and “...as if the fluids of my body were poisons...”. The seriousness of the event is obvious in the correlation of the narrators menses with the crucifixion of Christ. The line of the poem that further supports the seriousness of the tone is “Is it not the blood of saints and in battle beautiful? Do Christ’s hands not bleed into your eyes from his cross? “ This religious inflection and wartime comparison convey feelings of darkness and impending gloom. The structure of this poem also lends itself to more serious and dramatic tone with the constant repetition of certain phrases. It is apparent that the narrator views her coming of age as a death of an era and an abrupt introduction into a new chapter of life. The narrator seems sad, torn and even uptight about the occasion. The new era is symbolized with several lines within the poem. In one instance she describes the feeling of her new slip , which could symbolize the veil of her newly developed sexuality that comes with maturity. Also, one could take note