América

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1998

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Content

The poem is written in free verse and has no regular meter; nor does it employ rhyme. The sentences are often long; the nine lines of the first stanza consist of just one sentence, and the fifteen lines of stanza two form just two sentences. In each case the rhythm of the sentence is controlled by line breaks and punctuation, including commas and especially long dashes (known as em dashes) to set off subordinate clauses. In stanza three, the sentences are shorter and still use the em dash. The fourteen lines of stanza four are shorter than most of the other lines, with the rhythm controlled through comma, semi-colon, and colon. This stanza also consists of just one sentence. Stanza five is marked by the steady accumulation of detail about the Thanksgiving feast; the first three sentences have similar rhythms, each taking up three lines. After one four-line sentence, the pattern of three-line sentences is restored for two more sentences.

The shortest line in the poem is “in América” (Line 85). The name of the country is italicized, and with the acute accent over the “e,” it is meant to be pronounced as in Spanish. It emphasizes that for this family, America is a country that they experience through a Cuban lens. Since this short line comes very near the end of the poem it forms something of a climax, the first and only time the poem title is used in the poem itself.

Imagery

The poem relies on visual images mostly of food, including peanut butter, syrup, Cuban toast, jelly, pork, plantain chips, black beans, yuca con mojito, yams, Cuban coffee, and of course turkey and pumpkin pie. The parade of food is appropriate since a large part of Thanksgiving is the meal. The poet does not attempt to turn these images of food into gustatory (taste) or olfactory (smell) images that would amplify their effect. These are left to the imagination of the reader.

Simile

The poem makes little use of figurative language, but there is one notable example, which comes at the end of stanza two. It is in reference to the Cuban exiles who hang around Antonio’s Mercado, “clinging to one another’s lies of lost wealth, / ashamed and empty as hollow trees” (Lines 23-24). The simile, in which one thing is compared to another, unlike thing in a way that brings out a similarity between them, shows the extremely negative opinion the boy speaker has about the Cuban exiles who continually complain about their lives; they are not being truthful with themselves or with others; their words mean nothing.

Humor

There is a humorous element in the description of the Thanksgiving feast, and it works by comic exaggeration. Abuelita prepares the turkey “as if committing an act of treason” (Line 59), and the turkey is passed around “like a game of Russian Roulette” (Line 73). There is humor also in the incongruous image of Tío Berto, who, disappointed with the turkey, “proceeded / to drown the lean slices with pork fat drippings / and cranberry jelly” (Lines 74-76). Also, the fact that “Faces fell” (Line 77) when the pumpkin pie appeared is humorous in the light of the line that follows: “pumpkin was a home remedy for ulcers, not a dessert” (Line 78). This presents an amusing contrast with the way Americans regard their delicious pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving.