Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Chile Verde Quote Response #8

p. # 184

"All you have is this steely gray ache, spread out in a star shape-"

This is Bobo talking about what I interperet as finally getting what you have been waiting to get. You are so exited and so happy when you get it, and you feel like you have everything. However, when all is said and done, you really have nothing, and you just have this empty spot inside you.

p. #175

"That's when I noticed the tiny mustache on George."

This is talking about George Washington on the $1 bill. It is in the poem Juantoomany which I think is talking about a drinking problem. What he is saying is that his drinking problem is so bad that Juan from the phrase Juantoomany is on his money and that he is seeing things.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Chile Verde Quote Response #7

p. #165

"You must remember, it wasn't that long ago we stopped cooking with Crisco."

I found this quote to be very interesting. Throughout this story he repeatedly says you must remember. I believe that keeps saying it because the things he talks about are things commonly forgotten or not realized. The Crisco thing I found interesting too because it is one of those things he uses that has no connection with the story at all. I think he is stating that whatever he is talking about is something new to them.

p. #163
"or like when I stood up at St. Anthony's and my pantalones had eaten themselves into my cuchi-cuchi and everyone in the back rows, especially Dona Aguado, La Catolica, looked at it. Like that."

This whole segment was interesting because it took past experiences that were embarassing or bad, and made light of him. What he is saying is that in the end, you will laugh at it, even if it seems awful when it happens. The continual use of spanish throughout his poems is also interesting.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Chile Verde Quote Response #6

p. #135

"Can you alter its passage through my city, this umbral specter of sleeping moth figures."

This quote is talking about some sort of machine, but I am not sure what. I believe that it is saying that something terrible has gone through his city, or maybe he is just froma poor neighborhood. He wants to know if the mans machine can fix the city and make it so it never happened.

p. #136

"We've conned ourselves into a crazier gear than the one we were living in."

He is saying that when they finally got some money, they realized that they did not need it. They conned themselves into thinking that they did. They were perfectly happy finding entertainment watching people get on buses, and the money is not important to them anymore.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Chile Verde Quote Response #5

p. #124

"or she finds his torn fingers at the bottom of a cup of coffee."

This quote is speaking of the woman whse brother was murdered on the streets. It is significant because it is stating that she still remebers her brothers death, and can still picture the incident even though it happened 13 years later. She still horrors over it, and 'sees his fingers in her coffee' which is a metaphor for her still remembering what happened.

p. #119

"For years, in that wild shadow, she smoked and kissed a stray that crossed our window."

I do not understand why she kisses the stray every night. Her husband died, and I think that she kisses the stray because she needs something to be there and to love to replace what she lost. Also, she smokes because it is a way to relieve her stress from her husband dying, and it is addictive so she continues to do it.

Thesis

There have been many great American novels written in it’s very short history. Some of the most famous include Gone With the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, and Of Mice and Men. While these books are all classics, there are only two books that have incorporated the most moral issues of their time period into a well thought out plot. These two books are Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, and The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. These books are so different in the morals they incorporate, but have had such similar effects on America.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Chile Verde Quote Response #4

p. #85

"Are we are the letters, Mamita?"

I found this quote to be interesting because of the manner in which it was stated. It taskes a simple phrase and idea that would be in the first paragraph of the story, and contorts them to give it a different twist. It also steers away from the conventiaonal.

p. #91

"No Bible in the tribe keep the culture alive. While dreaming, eyebrows float as sheep grazing on cinammon cliff."

This quote is important because it is criticizing American culture today. He is saying that we are drifting away from religion, and that it is seen as uncultured. The second half of the quote I do not really understand, I believe that it is saying that when we dream we still exist and are still functional, we just don't realize it.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Chile Verde Quote Response #3

p. #79

"And maybe, if we are here, unshackled, in this aura of the awakened present and its chambers of gnashing trade systems, global and virulent, in every maquila shoe, aesthete cafe cup and Madras shirt, we can now ask ourselves, well, what is foreign and distant?"

This is a very important quote because it takes into perspective, Western ideals. The most important part is the question of what is foreign and distant. This could have multiple conotations. I believe that it is talking about how the U.S. and other countires see eachother as foreign countires, and completely different from themselves, but really, they are neighbors and the universe aroud them is foreign.

p. #76

"If you throw a chicken bone over your shoulder, he'll call
If you spit into his black olive twice, he'll choke on your name
If you memorize a license plate a day, you won't crash
If you wrap a green tie around your ankle, he'll give you the money"

I am confused about whether or not this poem has any religious conotation. I believe that it does because it is entitled, It Is Said, and it keep mentioning "he", but doesn't explain who "he" is. I believe that he is referring to God, and the poem is stating that there are so many new rediculous things being mentioned about the Bible and religion that make absolutely no sense, and that people should just interperet things how they feel and not allow people to do it for them.