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“I got up and pretended to study the pictures on the walls like I was a lover of religious art. When I got to the Merciful Mother right above Sinita’s head, I reached in my pocket and pulled out the bottom I’d found on the train. It was sparkly like a diamond and had a little hole in back so you could thread a ribbon through it and wear it like a romantic lady’s choker necklace. It wasn’t something I’d do, but I could see the button would make a good trade with someone inclined in that direction.
I held it out to her. I didn’t know what to say, and it probably wouldn’t have helped anyway. She picked it up, turned it all around, and then set it back down in my palm. ‘I don’t want your charity.’
I felt an angry tightness in my chest. ‘It’s …show more content…

My boy grew into a man, my girl long and slender like the blossoming mimosa at the end of the drive. Pedrito took on a certain gravity, became an important man around here. And I, Patria Mercedes? Like every woman of her house, I disappeared into what I loved, coming up now and then for air. I mean, an overnight trip by myself to a girlfriend’s, a special set to my hair, and maybe a yellow dress.
I had built my house on solid rock, all right.
Or should I say, Pedrito’s great-grandfather had built it over a hundred years back, and then each first son had lived in it and passed it on. But you have to understand, Patria Mercedes was in those timbers, in the nimble workings of the transoms, she was in those wide boards on the floor and in that creaky door opening on its old hinges,” (Alvarez 148).
In this passage, the author uses many similes and metaphors to describe Patria and her life. It begins with an allusion to the Bible, “And though the rain fall and the floods come and the winds blow, the good wife’s house will stand,” (Alvarez 148). The rain, floods, and winds mentioned are metaphors for any hardships or challenges in Patria’s life that she has overcome. The metaphor later in the passage, “Patria Mercedes was in those timbers… and in that creaky old door on its hinges,” (Alvarez 148) explains how much Patria has done for her family and worked to keep them safe. The tone is strong and commanding, and creates a mood of intimidation.
“But

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