An extended metaphor

The extended metaphor in “Four Skinny Trees” is that she compares herself and her family to trees. She feels like she doesn’t have the best family but they are enough. “Skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine”. The “trees” are not the best trees out there, her family is not the best family but she likes them. “They are the only ones who understand me”. They understand her and they are enough for each other. The Theme in “Four Skinny Trees” is that you should be happy with what you have and find the positive things in them. The metaphor and the Theme work because the speaker explains how she cares for her family.The metaphor works because the speaker of the story is finding the best things in her family and is happy that she has them unlike Nenny in the Story. She shows that she is thankful for them because she says that her sister doesn’t care. “But Nenny just sleeps and doesn’t appreciate these things.

 

Mark

"A Story" About A Central Tension

     The poem, "A Story" the author uses imagery and tone to help the poet develop the central tension between the father and the son.  The poem is full of imagery,"But the boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.  Are you a god, the man screams, that I sit mute before you?  Am I a god that I should never disappoint?"  The author is painting the picture of the son leaving the father.  The central tension in the poem is between the father and the son.  The father has become inadequate to the son and now the son is leaving.  The father then begs for the son to not leave, claiming that the son is acting like he's above the dad.  The son and dad are opposite forces with the dad being a traditionalist because he likes the same stories and the son needing something new all the time.  The son leaves the dad and it can be assumed the reason is that the dad is not entertaining.  The tone of the poem does a good job of highlighting the central tension in the poem.  The tone uses words like but, give up, and don't.  These words emphasize the opposing forces; the dad fighting the son to not go and the son resisting.  Tone and imagery are crucial in making the central tension apparent.

Being A Tree

In the short story "Four Skinny Trees" the speaker uses an extended metaphor to compare herself with trees.The extended metaphor works to create a theme in the story because it explains how the speaker is poor and has bigger dreams than what she is now. The speaker, little Esperanza, was not born into a rich family. They live in a house that is inner city on mango street that is nothing to brag about. Near the sidewalk of the house there are four little trees that are planted right by the street.

“Four who do not belong here but are here.”

That is how Esperanza feels, she feels that she doesn’t belong in her horrid house, she feels she belongs to some place nicer and some place where she can help people, instead of needing help herself. She explains how if those trees can survive without much grass then she can survive without needing the best of everything.

It's Only A Story

The central tension in the poem, “A Story” by Li –Young Li is that the father is scared of the fact that his son will leave him once he is no longer able to entertain his son; this central tension is developed through using a somber tone and foreshadowing. Li-Young Li uses a somber tone throughout the poem. “Sad is the man who is asked for a story and can’t come up with one.” The poem starts off in a dreadful tone, and progresses as the man thinks about his son leaving. The author also uses foreshadowing when the man states,  "Already the man lives far ahead, he sees the day this boy will go. Don't go!" The father is picturing his son leaving him in the future. That is how Li-Young Li uses a somber tone and foreshadowing to develop the central tension.

Gordon Zhong

Infinite Dreams, Little Trees

In the poem "Four Skinny Trees", the author uses extended metaphor comparing herself to skinny, small trees to show that no matter how poor, or weak one may be, they still have a fighting force to achieve their dreams. This outlines the speakers life and gives a reason to why she still fights for her dreams. The speaker wants a house, and not only just a house but the house of her dreams. She describes her current position, poor and flimsy. But she shows that she will fight for her dreams even if she never gets to get her dream, and she uses the metaphor to do this. A theme that i developed from this poem is that no matter how low down and poor one can be, we all still have dreams, and will fight to achieve these goals.

Look Up at the Trees When Your On Your Knees

The extended metaphor used in Four Skinny Trees is a comparison between the girl and how the four skinny trees barely stay alive. This metaphor uses foil and comparisons to create themes. In Four Skinny Trees the girl says "when i am to sad and too Skinny to keep keeping, then it is i look at the trees." This is an example of how the girl uses the trees to keep living and how she compares herself to their condition when she feels she can't go any further. The extended metaphor is then used to create 2 main themes of the poetic story which is "when you feel down look up to the ones doing better in your position," and "comparing yourself to others may help with your problems."The metaphor that makes up the whole poem is used to create this theme and to reflect the similarities that the girl and the 4 skinny trees have in common yet create a foil between them as well. The girl dislikes her life and wants a new one while the trees are desperate to keep their own. Having the girl be so low about her life make the trees look more willing to stay alive. It makes them look like hero's. Together foiling characters and comparisons between the characters help to develop multiple themes.

Being a Father Isn't Meant for Perfection

"A Story" by Li-Young Lee emphasizes and clarifies that being a father isn't easy and it isn't meant for perfection with: struggling to tell his son a story and fearing that his son will not have the father that he always wanted or needed; that the man will not be able to be the perfect father.

"Already the man lives far ahead, he sees

the day this boy will go. Don't go! [...]

But the boy is packing his shirts,
 he is looking for his keys. [...]
But the boy is here. Please, Baba, a story?"

Li-Young Lee's use of literary devices: metaphors and dramatic irony, emphasize how the man really feels about his son and how hard he is trying to be a better father. He doesn't want his son growing up thinking that his father doesn't have much sympathy/affection for him. He wants to be able to tell his son a story without thinking, but by the heart and how he truly feels. His son wants to hear a story from his father, but he doesn't know what to say or where to start. It is as if the man is indirectly showing that he doesn't know how to take care of his son because he is afraid of the possible outcome or negative connotation he may bring to his son. It all starts with telling a story, but if a father can't do that then what can he do for his kids?



 

Esperenza A Tree

           “In Four Skinny Trees”, Esperanza compares herself to the trees as an extended metaphor to show that the appearance of an object doesn’t show their strengths and traits by using a symbol that represents her thoughts and actions.  Esperanza believes that the trees are a symbol of her own identity, unwanted and strong. She describes the trees by stating, “Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city.” She believes that her family and her do not belong in this big city, they still belong in their apartment. They are both hungry and weak looking because of the lack of money the family has. They are out of place and Esperanza is not used to living in a house that is all theirs. To her it seems like they are not in their rightful places. Also, she talks about the trees being strong mentally. “They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger.” The trees show their strength by standing there by reaching up to the sky, and growing down beneath the roots. She believes that her strength is shown the same way, in her family and her holding on to what she has. She has so little, but stands with what she has and that way she shows her strength.

Story Time Ends in College

The central tension in Li-Young Lee's poem is that the father is trying to make his son happy with a story but can not come up with one and is afraid of disappointing his son. The father has told the same stories over and over and began to bore his kid which becomes a metaphor for his kid growing up and needing to move away. Eventually his son gets bored and leaves with keys showing that the poem is a metaphor for his son needing to move on and go to college/ leave the house. The father is having a hard time with this and does not want his son to leave. This is shown in the sentence "You laugh at the spider.Let me tell it! But the boy is packing his shirts, he is looking for his keys.". This shows that his son is grown up and moving away. That is why the conflict is about his son growing up and needs to move away and how it is a metaphor for the father running out of stories.

Resilient Trees

In "Four Skinny Trees", the extended metaphor used by the speaker describes a resilient theme, as she describes the trees as unwanted, but they still stand there, just as she thinks of herself. She says that the trees are "Four raggedy excuses planted by the city" but later goes on to say "Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be", this personifies the trees, and gives them purpose in life as just to stand there. She compares them to herself by saying "When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, then it is I look at these trees." This tells the readers that she is resilient despite her opinion that she has no purpose in life, as are the four skinny trees.

A story, or not A story?

In Li-Young Li's "A Story", the author uses foreshadowing and irony to develop the tension of the story, that the father cannot think of a new story for his young son, and doen't want to dissapoint him. The use of Irony in the story begins in the second stanza, when the poem says "In a room full of books, in a world full of stories, he can recall not one...". The ironic fact that the father cannot think of a single story, and doesn't want to dissapoint the boy by not having a story, while in a rooms full of stories he could tell, supports the tension because the father would feel like dissapointing the boy if he were to look for a new story. Foreshadowing is used because of the father's dread of not being able to think of a story, imagining "the day this boy will go. Hear the alligator story! the angel story once more! You love the spider story. you laugh at the spider. let me tell it! But the boy is packing his shirts". The father dreads that his dissapointment will make the boy grow up faster and leave him. The father doesn't want in any way to dissapoint his young son with a repeated story, or to have to look for a story, and so he finishes at a stalemate, being unable to think of one.

Pushing the Duke Over the Edge

The Duke, being an arrogant and cold man, eliminated his last Duchess because of the way she treated him. Some of the small and ordinary events that led him to this are all events where she didn’t treat him quite like he envisioned. “She thanked men, - good! But thanked Somehow – I know not how – as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name With anybody’s gift” (Lines 31-34). Thanking other men and treating them with respect turned into the Duke claiming his wife treated other men much like she treated him and how she valued them the same amount that she valued her husband. “A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (Lines 20-24). The Duchess appears to be a happy woman but the Duke thinks that his wife is too easily impresses with other’s actions when she should be over impressed with his and that she was always too happy with other’s when she needs to be only happy with him. I can see how the Duke is building up to something at this point because he is extremely frustrated with his wife and how she never pays any attention to him. The last trivial incident that produced this response in the Duke is “Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Whene’er I passed her; but who passed her without Much the same smile” (Lines 43-44). The Duke has had it with how she doesn’t treat him how he envisions even though the Duchess is just a friendly woman. These small incidents seem to produce this arrogant and cold Duke that we see in the story.

-Sydney B

The Duke and his Mistress

The Duke eliminated his last duchess because she undervalued him and treated him as if he were just any man because a lot of men liked her. She did not love him as much as he loved her. “She looked on, and her looks went everywhere”(line 24). The Duke is noticing her way more then she is even looking at him. He is day dreaming and considering everything. “My favour at her breast”(25). “I gave commands; then all the smiles stopped together”(45-46). The duke is feed up of man treating the duchess as if she were a toy. And he is also mad because she is a magnet to man who draws everyone in and gives hope them.

-Mark Gutierrez

The Trivial Incidents of the Duke

Some of the trivial incidents that have seemed to produce the response of eliminating the duke’s duchess are because of jealousy, love and hatred. Some examples of jealousy are so many men liked the duchess and the Duke loved the girl a lot more than all the other men did. This caused the Duke to get very jealous and want to kill somebody through hatred. Some evidence of this are in the poem, “The Last Duchess” the Duke explained, ”’Her mantle laps over my Lady’s wrist too much’ or ‘Paint must never hope to reproduce the faint”. This quote explains how the Duke is jealous because the other men are liking the duchess and he is saying pretty much if you touch her I will kill you.