The Subject of Race in In Coca-Cola and Coco-Frio

There are many times after I read a poem that I sit there wondering what message the author was trying to get across. I look back throughout the poem and wonder why did the author choose that particular word or phrase. Most pomes are telling a story and even though it seems simple it can have a much deeper meaning to it. In Coca -Cola and Coco- Frio, written by Martin Espada, he tells a story of a young boy from Brooklyn who goes to Puerto Rico to visit his family. When he gets to Puerto Rico he drinks Coca- Cola and he is board with the taste. He came to Puerto Rico looking for his heritage and culture and instead found the same thing he was accustomed to in Brooklyn. This story is full of metaphors. Authors use metaphors to compare something in the story with and emotion or object. There are many metaphors throughout Coca -Cola and Coco- Frio.

In Coca-Cola and Coca Frio the story starts off with the young boy going to Puerto Rico to visit his family. (467) I believe that he was going to find a piece of his past, his heritage. When he arrives there the poem states that the young boy ?wondered from table to table with his mouth open?. (468) I believe the author is using a metaphor to tell us something here. When the author used the phrase ?wondered from table to table with his mouth open? I believe that the author meant the young boy was ready to try new things. The author specifically used the word ?wondered? which makes me think the young boy was there looking for new things. We can all relate to this feeling in our own life, we always want to try new things and are always trying to find something to fulfill our need for new experience.

In his attempt to search for new experience he is disappointed. In the poem it states ? at every table? a family member would ?steer? him to a glass of Coca-Cola. (468) The metaphor here is everywhere he went he got the same thing. And every family member would direct the young boy to the same thing. The young boy went to