Clouds & Sky Symbolism (Due: 3/11/11)

Clouds and sky are a recurring theme throughout the book, that my classmates as well as myself picked up on.  I believe that clouds and sky are a sign of freedom and hope to Esperanza. I feel like her hope has diminished throughout her life, because of emotional insecurity due to hormones and growing up. She discusses much insecurity about herself, and relationship status. She wants a man that will hold her and be there for her, and for the majority of the book she does not find the right person. On page 60-61, she writes this poem:

            “I want to be

              bike the waves on the sea

              like the clouds in the wind,

              but I’m me.

              One day I’ll jump

              out of my skin.

              I’ll shake the sky

              like a hundred violins.”

As you can see, she sees the sky and clouds as a place of freedom, and a place that she can escape. I think that she feels trapped in her body which is a major sign of insecurity. Another example of this,  is on page 33. She says, “You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad.” This shows that when she thinks about or looks at the sky, she feel safe. This proves that clouds and sky are a form of security and comfort to her, and that is why it comes up so much in the book. The last example that supports this theory, is on page 82. She states, “And if you opened the little window latch and gave it a shove, the window would swing open, all the sky would come in.” This quote raises a question. She brings up windows again, which is another piece of symbolism the author uses. Maybe open windows scare her, and she feels that open windows crush any hope, security, and comfort she has, and that is why she says this in the book.

            Of course, there is no real way to find this out for a fact. And there is a chance that clouds and sky does not mean anything at all, and we are just imagining things. Either way, there is good evidence supporting the idea of clouds and sky as symbolism, and I strongly believe that the author put this in the book for a reason.