A Literary Analysis of Quinceanera by Judith Ortiz Cofer Essay

Quinceanera by Judith Ortiz CoferWhat shocked me that midnight was that I heard my own voice loud and clear, Julia Alvarez mentioned. Julia Alvarez remembers the hard work and the amount of time spent in planning her quinceanera, just as if occurred yesterday. Alvarez illustrates her emotions and feeling through this outstanding poem. Starting with the title, Quinceanera, a reader can detect hidden meanings. In the Spanish language, the word quinceanera means that a new voice will be heard as a girl becomes of age, a fifteen-year-old girl s coming out party in Latin cultures. In the poem Quinceanera, by Judith Ortiz Cofer, she tells the story of when she turned fifteen. Cofer demonstrates the tone of the poem very well. The denotation of tone states that one conveys an attitude toward the person addressed, however the attitude is clear to the reader. For example, the tone of the poem is clearly seen when the author is thinking to herself, as she becomes a woman throughout the day. She does not want to grow up because she will have to maintain her own laundry, her childhood has been outgrown because she stored her dolls in a chest as if they were dead, and she awakens at night because she can feel her skin growing, stretching, and forming into her new womanly body. Although she experienced these feelings, every girl has the privilege of having the same kind of experience The reader can also observe figures of speech in the poem. First of all, similes are throughout the entire poem. For example, the first three lines of the poem states that My dolls have been put away like dead children in a chest I will carry with me when I marry, is an example of a simile that has great meaning to it. This quote has a meaning that since the dolls have been put in storage, the only thing left from that...