Many people have considered and evaluated what makes a person and how to be completely authentic to themselves. Some have argued that it’s impossible to be truly authentic. Others have argued that people consist of many different, yet authentic, parts. In “The Small Claim of Bones”, Cindy William Gutiérrez demonstrates that one’s authentic self is comprised of their own experiences and how they choose to respond when faced with adversity.
Gutiérrez reveals her message several times throughout the course of her poem. Early in the poem, Gutiérrez admits, “my past lodges/in my marrow and if/i wanted a transplant/there’d be no match” (6-9). The author utilizes symbolism throughout the poem, though this is the clearest example of it. Gutiérrez is saying that everything she’s been through, good or bad, has been so deeply ingrained into who she is that it’s rooted into her bones. She goes further to say that there would be no match for herself if she were to seek a transplant, because no one has …show more content…
Gutiérrez reveals that her message is more than just a belief in this line. The emphasis of this line is ‘knows’. Her word choice is very important in this line. Gutiérrez knows this. She doesn’t say that she believes this or that she thinks this. What her body knows is a lie. There’s a definity to the poem. In addition, her ‘body’ is also a symbol for her experience and herself. Her ‘body’ is comprised of her different experiences and her own experiences, for her, are a definite. She knows what’s happened to her and how it’s shaped her. She argues that her ‘body’, her experiences, have created who she is. Gutiérrez furthers this in saying, “it’s not/a lie i tell you it is not/it’s nothing short of truth/and nothing larger” (2-5). Her experiences are who she is, nothing more and nothing less. Her past is her own truth. Gutiérrez finds that to be truly herself, she needs to accept her own