Emeri Acosta
Mrs. Aileen-Mata
English 4 AP
“Four Skinny Trees” by Sandra Cisneros
“Four Skinny Trees”, by Sandra Cisneros is a chapter taken out of her book The House on Mango Street. The book is about a girl moving to a different house and hoe she doesn’t fit in. There she also encounters different situations that make her become a mature girl and see things in a different perspective. “Four Skinny Trees: is full of literary terms, personification which Cisneros uses to help Esperanza become stronger. First, “Four Skinny Tress” is about a girl who wishes to be strong and away from the place she is recently living. She comforts herself by imagining that the trees understand her. She see’s that tree’s having the same characteristics as her; strong and will grow anywhere no matter the circumstances. The significant thing about the trees is that they are growing in concrete. Concrete is very difficult to grow on and instead of making something grow it traps it. This is exactly how Esperanza feels due to the fact that she has moved many times in her life that she now can grow anywhere and develop new survival skills. Both the trees and Esperanza are sick of where they stand, but develop the strength and courage to keep on growing. Secondly, Esperanza says that the trees understand her; she gives personification to the trees as if they were her friends and family. She also says that she can hear them. Esperanza describes the trees as if they “grab the earth between their hairy toes”, giving them a sense as if they were humans and they were standing up for themselves and trying to be strong. Esperanza also compares herself to the trees by telling the reader that the trees “bite the Sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger” here both are trying to reach for something better in a place where they particularly don’t belong and where fights keep a person down. They also don’t let anything or anyone get in their way of thriving. With these uses of personification Esperanza is trying to express how trapped she feels but that will never stop her of growing and becoming stronger every day. Thirdly, Esperanza finds consolation whenever she talks to the trees because she thinks that they understand what she is going through and also thinks that they respond to her questions. For example, she compares the trees to tulips drooping in a glass case. Whenever a flower droops it means that it is dying or unhappy of where they are placed, either because they don’t have enough nutrients or because they aren’t taking in the sun’s rays. Also she physically compares herself to the trees saying that she is as skinny as then and so out of place. Due to the fact that the trees and her are alike she feels a deep connection towards them. Lastly, the sense of being strong when under trials is what she needs to keep going and to keep her strong and safe even when there are too many bricks in order to see the beauty of life around her. In conclusion, she expresses herself when she talks about the trees because to her they are like her and they are in a way connected to her and her life. Esperanza thinks that she is the for skinny trees a that are growing through concrete and keep on growing no matter what the world throws on them. They might not like where they are flowering, but they try their hardest to thrive and survive and each time they do this they become stronger.