Literary Devices

One day I'll have my own friend. Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor.

All brown all around, we are safe.

At school they say my name as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt inside your mouth.

But I think diseases have no eyes. They pick with a dizzy finger anyone, just anyone.

You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad.

"It's small and red with ... windows so small you'd think they were holding their breath."

In the chapter "Chanclas" what do Esperanza's old brown saddle shoes symbolize?

My mother's hair is like little candy circles all curly and pretty...

She looked out that window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow

Esta muerto, and then as if he just heard the news himself, he crumples like a coat and cries.

"Most likely I will go to hell and most likely I deserve to be there."

In the chapter, "The Family of Little Feet," what do the shoes symbolize?

...a wood box that's old and got a big brass record in it with hold. Then he starts it up and..

Apples, peaches, pumpkin pah-ay. You're in love and so am ah-ay.

Alicia, who inherited her mama's rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies...

Nenny jumps in across from me, the rope tick-ticking...