1) Antithesis & Simile
'"--She served the people all her life, and now the people are scattered, driven like tumbleweeds by the winds of war. The war sucks everything dry," my father said solemnly, "it takes the young boys overseas, and their families move to California where there is work--"' (Pg. 3)
This quote, in essence, is an antithesis, because Antonio's father is saying that Ultima has served everyone, and usually one would expect them to continue living their lives peacefully, but now with the war, an adverse situation occurs where the people have been driven and changed by the war. The war he refers to is World War II, which is the time setting in which this book takes place. In this phrase there is also a simile comparing the people's drivenness to tumbleweeds. Tumbleweeds are blown by dry winds in arid climates, and it is a probable simile to use in the geographic environment this book takes place in, the llano, where tumbleweeds sweeping across the lands might be a common sight. The people are like tumbleweeds, constantly restless, and in a way manipulated or affected by the war, or the wind.
2) Exaggeration & Allusion
"The sky sparkled with a million stars and the Virgin's horned moon, the moon of my mother's people, the moon of the Lunas. My mother would be praying for the soul of Lupito." (Pg. 25)
The nighttimes in the llano and valley of New Mexico are not affected by industrial pollution, and one can imagine the immense multitude of stars appearing in the skies, emphasized by exaggeration. The moon represents the Virgin, in the sense she is always watching over the people, and is the guide to farming and daily life of the Lunas. The moon witnesses everything on the Earth's surface, for its light glimmers in the night. Cities can block out people from seeing the moon, and in some way this could be connected to sinfulness and the Virgin. The moon does not get angry because people cover up sight of it with a roof or go underground, but is rather understanding like the Virgin, as when people sin, she always forgives. Antonio's mother was a Luna, and for this reason, she would be praying for Lupito, because this was the time when he died, and he might become another one of the millions of stars in the skies, as was a common ancestral belief in ancient superstition. The "horned moon" could be represented as an allusion.
3) Symbol & Motif
"At the big juniper tree where the hill sloped to the bridge I heard Ultima's owl sing. I knew it was her owl because it was singing in daylight. High at the top of a clump of the ripe blue berries of the juniper I saw it. Its bright eyes looked down on me and it cried, whoooo, whoooo. I took confidence from its song, and wiping the tears from my eyes I raced towards the bridge, the link to town." (Pg. 59)
Ultima's owl was the symbolic animal that represented her spirit throughout the course of the story. It was one of the reasons why Ultima could foresee the future and understand life in a different perspective, because the owl was given to her by her ancestors. Since the owl is one of the wisest birds in the animal kingdom, it explains why Ultima knew an abundance of information regarding virtues, morals, and the significance of faith, which she diligently taught Antonio through the course of his transition from childhood to adolescence. Ultima was one of the most unique people in the town, due to her practices as a curandera, which is probably why the owl sang in daylight. The owl resembled her spirit, and this is why Antonio had confidence when he saw it, because he knew in his heart that Ultima would always be spiritually within him in every step in the novel.
4) Hyperbole / Exaggeration
"They sinned a lot, they sinned against each other, and they sinned against the legends they knew. And so the golden carp sent them a prophecy. He said that the sins of the people would weigh so heavy upon the land that in the end the whole town would collapse and be swallowed by water." (Pg. 123)
The story of the golden carp signifies the benevolent spirit of a willing god to help the people, who were turned into carp for eating the carp of the river during a decline in food supply. There were several people living in the town, and since the ancient prophecies were proclaimed about the golden carp, the total population of the town has multiplied quite significantly, and now with more sin comes more "carp" in the river. If the rivers and lakes were to dominate the world, as would probably happen with the multitude of carp, eventually the whole town would collapse, and would be underwater. On the other hand, this could also represent a hyperbole, similar to an event that occurred in the Bible book of Genesis, when God flooded the world because the people sinned too often and were constantly warring and not living harmoniously among each other.
5) Personification & Metaphor
"Like a young tree bends with the wind, so a man must bow to the earth-- It is only when man grows old and refuses to admit his earth-tie and dependence on mother nature that the powers of mother nature will turn upon him and destroy him, like the strong wind cracks an old, dry tree." (Pg. 202)
In this quote, Gabriel is explaining to Antonio that as he went through his childhood he had a dependency on mother nature, or his mother and the values she taught about learning to tend to the earth's fruitfulness. At one point, he admits, a man must grow out of his tie to the earth and dependency, and learn to make his own decisions, decide his own way. While Antonio is not convinced he will choose the vaquero life of his father, he is sure that he must find his own way. His father continues by saying that if he continues to maintain this dependence and close ties to the earth, he might never experience what the rest of the world offers for him, and eventually, when an old tree dies, it has no worth anymore or memories other than that of the life it spent attached to the earth, because it never ventured out to making its own choices, it was tied down its whole life.
'"--She served the people all her life, and now the people are scattered, driven like tumbleweeds by the winds of war. The war sucks everything dry," my father said solemnly, "it takes the young boys overseas, and their families move to California where there is work--"' (Pg. 3)
This quote, in essence, is an antithesis, because Antonio's father is saying that Ultima has served everyone, and usually one would expect them to continue living their lives peacefully, but now with the war, an adverse situation occurs where the people have been driven and changed by the war. The war he refers to is World War II, which is the time setting in which this book takes place. In this phrase there is also a simile comparing the people's drivenness to tumbleweeds. Tumbleweeds are blown by dry winds in arid climates, and it is a probable simile to use in the geographic environment this book takes place in, the llano, where tumbleweeds sweeping across the lands might be a common sight. The people are like tumbleweeds, constantly restless, and in a way manipulated or affected by the war, or the wind.
2) Exaggeration & Allusion
"The sky sparkled with a million stars and the Virgin's horned moon, the moon of my mother's people, the moon of the Lunas. My mother would be praying for the soul of Lupito." (Pg. 25)
The nighttimes in the llano and valley of New Mexico are not affected by industrial pollution, and one can imagine the immense multitude of stars appearing in the skies, emphasized by exaggeration. The moon represents the Virgin, in the sense she is always watching over the people, and is the guide to farming and daily life of the Lunas. The moon witnesses everything on the Earth's surface, for its light glimmers in the night. Cities can block out people from seeing the moon, and in some way this could be connected to sinfulness and the Virgin. The moon does not get angry because people cover up sight of it with a roof or go underground, but is rather understanding like the Virgin, as when people sin, she always forgives. Antonio's mother was a Luna, and for this reason, she would be praying for Lupito, because this was the time when he died, and he might become another one of the millions of stars in the skies, as was a common ancestral belief in ancient superstition. The "horned moon" could be represented as an allusion.
3) Symbol & Motif
"At the big juniper tree where the hill sloped to the bridge I heard Ultima's owl sing. I knew it was her owl because it was singing in daylight. High at the top of a clump of the ripe blue berries of the juniper I saw it. Its bright eyes looked down on me and it cried, whoooo, whoooo. I took confidence from its song, and wiping the tears from my eyes I raced towards the bridge, the link to town." (Pg. 59)
Ultima's owl was the symbolic animal that represented her spirit throughout the course of the story. It was one of the reasons why Ultima could foresee the future and understand life in a different perspective, because the owl was given to her by her ancestors. Since the owl is one of the wisest birds in the animal kingdom, it explains why Ultima knew an abundance of information regarding virtues, morals, and the significance of faith, which she diligently taught Antonio through the course of his transition from childhood to adolescence. Ultima was one of the most unique people in the town, due to her practices as a curandera, which is probably why the owl sang in daylight. The owl resembled her spirit, and this is why Antonio had confidence when he saw it, because he knew in his heart that Ultima would always be spiritually within him in every step in the novel.
4) Hyperbole / Exaggeration
"They sinned a lot, they sinned against each other, and they sinned against the legends they knew. And so the golden carp sent them a prophecy. He said that the sins of the people would weigh so heavy upon the land that in the end the whole town would collapse and be swallowed by water." (Pg. 123)
The story of the golden carp signifies the benevolent spirit of a willing god to help the people, who were turned into carp for eating the carp of the river during a decline in food supply. There were several people living in the town, and since the ancient prophecies were proclaimed about the golden carp, the total population of the town has multiplied quite significantly, and now with more sin comes more "carp" in the river. If the rivers and lakes were to dominate the world, as would probably happen with the multitude of carp, eventually the whole town would collapse, and would be underwater. On the other hand, this could also represent a hyperbole, similar to an event that occurred in the Bible book of Genesis, when God flooded the world because the people sinned too often and were constantly warring and not living harmoniously among each other.
5) Personification & Metaphor
"Like a young tree bends with the wind, so a man must bow to the earth-- It is only when man grows old and refuses to admit his earth-tie and dependence on mother nature that the powers of mother nature will turn upon him and destroy him, like the strong wind cracks an old, dry tree." (Pg. 202)
In this quote, Gabriel is explaining to Antonio that as he went through his childhood he had a dependency on mother nature, or his mother and the values she taught about learning to tend to the earth's fruitfulness. At one point, he admits, a man must grow out of his tie to the earth and dependency, and learn to make his own decisions, decide his own way. While Antonio is not convinced he will choose the vaquero life of his father, he is sure that he must find his own way. His father continues by saying that if he continues to maintain this dependence and close ties to the earth, he might never experience what the rest of the world offers for him, and eventually, when an old tree dies, it has no worth anymore or memories other than that of the life it spent attached to the earth, because it never ventured out to making its own choices, it was tied down its whole life.