Linguistic Impact Essay

When people talk to each other, they make widespread use of metaphor. In talk, metaphor is a shifting, dynamic phenomenon that spreads, connects, and disconnects with other thoughts and other speakers, starts and restarts, flows through talk developing, extending, and changing. Metaphor in talk both shapes the ongoing talk and is shaped by it. The creativity of metaphor in talk appears less in the novelty of connected domains and more in the use of metaphor to shape a discourse event and the adaptation of metaphor in the flow of talk. People use metaphor to think with, to explain themselves to others, to organize their talk, and their choice of metaphor often reveals- not only their conceptualizations- but also, and perhaps

One hint to the theme Soto puts in the story is “I showed the cracks to my mother, who always seemed to be at the stove with steamed-up glasses, and she said that there were children in Mexico who would love that jacket.” The main character should wear the jacket because other kids in the world need what he has and doesn’t like, along with the symbolism that Soto is Mexican. Usually, symbolism is a concrete reference an abstract meaning, other examples are: “When I needed a new jacket and my mother asked what kind I wanted, I described something like bikers wear: black leather and silver studs with enough belts to hold down a small town.” This is a greatly vague reference to the boy wanting to fit in, when people think of a bikers jacket people would think of America. So in the end, commonly, symbolism is a reference to the author as a

The strongest usage of metaphor in this poem is in the first stanza in the line “write their knees with necessary scratches”. While scratches cannot be written, words can, so this insinuates that children learn with nature, and that despite its fading presence in today’s urban structures, it is a necessary learning tool for children. The poet has used this metaphor to remind the reader of their childhood, and how important it is to not just learn from the confines of a classroom, but in the world outside. This leads to create a sense of guilt in the reader for allowing such significant part of a child’s growing up to disintegrate into its concrete surroundings. Although a positive statement within itself, this metaphor brings upon a negative

When the term “metaphor” is used, one solely thinks of the typical definition; a figure of speech that compares two objects without using the words like or as. However, in Sonia Nazario’s literary work, Enrique’s Journey, word “metaphor” is transformed entirely into a profound and heart wrenching meaning. Throughout this novel the main character, Enrique, stands as a metaphor and a worldwide symbol to show the ongoing problems in the world regarding abandonment, immigration, and drug cartels. Abandoned children long to find their place in the world, and as they try to overcome the barriers they are faced with such as confusion as a result of a failure to be noticed.

When Esperanza looks at the trees, she notices how they are alike… How they both don’t belong. Being a Latina person and mistreated often, she feels as if she is the minority. She doesn’t belong like how the four skinny trees don’t. The author uses personification when using “skinny necks and similies as she compares herself to them. They become metaphors for her and her family, who are outcasts.

Soto is known for his constant use of spanish within all his literature. For example, Soto quotes “Not one day would pass without the butcher or barber…or ambitious children with dollar signs in their eyes waving to El Millonario.” (Soto 28) El Millonario is spanish for the millionaire. Soto uses spanish to emphasize a connection towards poverty and how people of wealth were mostly looked upon when in the barrios. Another example is shown when Soto quotes “They shook hands, raza-style, and jerked their heads at one another in a saludo de vato.” (Soto 53) Saludo de vato is spanish for any type of greeting like wassup or whats hanging. Soto tries to connect to the hispanic culture within his hometown, Fresno, California. Soto also quotes “His father,who was puro Mexicano.”(Soto 2) Puro Mexicano is spanish for pure Mexican. In this quote, Soto uses spanish to accentuate and connect to how hispanic his father was. Overall, Soto foregrounds his hispanic culture and wants people to know that he is

Figurative language plays a major role in literature. The use of multiple types of figurative language adds quality, strength, and depth through literary works. “Applying the right element in making specific points in writing is necessary to make figurative language work.” For example, Billy Collins uses a few different types of figurative language to strengthen his poem, The Names. It is moving that Billy Collins uses imagery, metaphors, and allegory in his poem because those elements help depict a deeper meaning of his thoughts and remembrance of 9/11.

Fourth, students must realize how much metaphors are used in the english language. Not only are metaphors used so commonly, they also greatly influence the way we think about things. All subjects are based on metaphors. Education is currently seen as a business with the students as the clients. Language is a tree with deep roots. Metaphors are a cornerstone to how we grasp concepts and understand the knowledge we have. We really only know things in relation to other things, often by a metaphor

Perez’s use figurative language throughout the poem transmits the concept of avarice in mankind with the ambition for amelioration. A representation of similes in the poem would be “Darkness spills across the sky like an oil plume.” In the literal sense, he is stating that it is nighttime which creates the setting of the poem. However, when referring to oil plumes, Perez is discussing the environmental damages such as destroying habitats and the source of diseases

On the other hand, the imagery in the next half of the poem that Soto uses about adults is much more serious and sad than the imagery he has used for the children. A first example is “The cotton gin stands tall in the money dream”. This visual imagery is in reference to to picking cotton, or agriculture in general. Agricultural jobs are common among poor Mexican workers and are probably one of the only ways that many believe they can really earn money. In this second half of the poem, the author’s use of imagery is mainly featured around jobs and money. A second example of imagery when the speaker is talking to

The poem, “Black Hair,” by Gary Soto describes a childhood of a boy looking back on how he compared himself to his favorite baseball player’s. The speaker gives many rich images stating how the boy compares himself to the baseball players. The three vivid images that prodded out at me were, “I came here because I was Mexican” this is him comparing himself to a dark skin baseball player, “At eight I was brilliant with my body”, and “Growing sweaty in the presence of white shirts”.

The use of figurative language in writing brings a story to life in the mind of the reader giving them a better grasp of the events taking place. Using hyperbole, simile and personification serves to develop the characters of a story as well as enhancing its theme (Kirszner and Mandell, 2012).

Though they are in a joking mannerism, the comment is still a stereotype to the Spanish culture. Adler and Proctor (2014) portray the concept stereotyping, as categorizing individuals according to a set of characteristics assumed to belong to all members of a group (p.81). Stereotypes are portrayed every day sometimes in a comical matter like those found in films, but when seen in the real world can cause different expressions. Though seen as a joke some stereotypes hurt people’s feelings, while others are just a comical way to describe someone’s assumed

Another vice presented by the Poet is the connotation which depicts the ‘back air' of the suffering and torture the Latin Americans go through at the hands of the United Fruits Company. For example, in lines 12, 19, 23, and 25, words such as sleeping dead, dictatorship, submissive blood, and tombs are used to indicate the aura of death surrounding the setting of the poem. In some instances such as line 26, the word flies is used to refer to people who are present in various caliber under the rule of the company to drain the resources of locals and manipulating them authoritatively to provide forced labor. The nature of this description is evident in the 28th

A girl thrown out of her apartment, lost her job, but she still strives for her dreams and lets nothing get in her way. She pushes through, gets back up, and fights back. No matter what she won’t let anything stop her from achieving her dreams. This idea can be seen in many pieces of texts including the following poems. “Invictus,” by William Ernest Henley and “Still I rise” by Maya Angelou both convey the message that people can not let anything stop them from achieving their dream and to fight back.