Marshall Rotella

RWW9, Class 8
Ms. Bartz
April 5, 2016
Painting a Picture
The Monkey Garden is my favorite vignette because Esperanza is realizing that
everyone around her is maturing and she thinks its crazy. The vignette starts off
describing the garden and talking about her memories in it, then shifts to a serious tone
when Sally gives two boys kisses behind a pickup truck so she can get her keys back.
Sandra Cisneros creates a concerned yet light tone using imagery and metaphors/
similes. Esperanza describes the garden as a place where there were sunflowers big
as flowers on mars and thick cockscombs bleeding the deep red fringe of theater
curtains(94). The descriptive metaphors and similes portray the garden as a colorful
and beautiful, fun place to be. The easy going, nice tone changes to a concerned tone
after Sally kisses the two boys and Esperanza determined she had to hide [herself] in
at the other end of the garden, in the jungle part, under a tree that wouldn't mind if [she]
lay down and cried a long time(97). The author includes the tree wouldnt mind
because it provides the reader with a feeling that the tree is the only place that will
accept her. The Monkey Garden represents how everything and everyone matures
over time and Esperanza is confused and worried.