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An Outline
The text I will be working on is “Praise the Tortilla, Praise Menudo, Praise Chorizo” by Ray Gonzalez.
- A working thesis statement: Ray Gonzalez’s poem “Praise the Tortilla, Praise Menudo, Praise Chorizo” uses imagery and symbolism to better represent the in-depth appraisal of the three food items; Tortilla, Menudo, and Chorizo as he remembers the things that occurred during his childhood life.
- Imagery:
- Praise the Tortilla;
- “I Praise the tortilla in honor of El Panzon” /who hit me in school every day and made me see /how the bruises on my arms looked like /the brown clouds on my mother’s tortillas” (1-4).
- Analysis; In a tortilla, the author uses imagery as a literary device to remember the events that happened to him when he was a child. He remembers the person that bullied him at school, and this tortured him psychologically.
- Praise the Menudo;
- “We see as the red caldo smears across our textbooks /like a vision we have not had in years /our lives going down like the empty bowl /of menudo exploding in our stomachs” (12-15).
- Analysis: This stanza is a classic ode to food. In this context, the poet praises the tripe soup (Menudo) as a “visionary food,” by reflecting on the soup. Each imagery word in this stanza honors this type of food.
- Praise the Chorizo;
- “with the desire to find out /what happened to la familiia /why the chorizo sizzled in the pan and covered the house with a smell of childhood we will never have again” (20-24).
- In chorizo, the speaker uses imagery in this context to recall his family and to seek answers to what really happened with them. In this stanza, the speaker is in conflict with why the chorizo covered the whole house with his childhood memories which he intended to bury.
- Symbolism;
- Praise the Tortilla;
- “El Panzon” is a symbol in the line “I praise the tortilla in honor of El Panzon” (1).
- Analysis: El Panzon is a symbol of bullies in schools. The speaker gave him a colossal title since, like him, they were feared by the weak students who could not defend themselves from these kinds of students. El Panzon was honored and still would hit them in school every day. Another symbol is the bruises that looked like “the brown clouds on my mother’s tortillas” (4). A mother’s flour tortillas look like burned parts or patches on that flatbread. The brown clouds on the mother’s tortillas reminded him of his bruises, which were everywhere on his body which he had gotten from El Panzon.
- Praise the Menudo;
- “Our lives going down like the empty bowl /of menudo exploding in our stomachs /with the chili piguin our poetic dreams” (14-16).
- Analysis: The Menudo, in this context, is a symbol that represents the speed or the rate at which life goes by. And according to the speaker, life is moving really fast.
- Praise the Chorizo;
- “The chorizo burrito hot in our hands, /as we ran out to play and show vatos /it’s time to cut the chorizo /tell it like it is before la mateca runs down /our chins and drips away” (25 -29).
- Analysis: In this context, the chorizo is a symbol that represents the beautiful moments and time the speaker had with his family. The statement also symbolizes the nostalgia feeling. As he takes the chorizo and runs down his chins and drips away, it gives him homesickness, as he still misses his family and the beautiful moments he had with them.
Work Cited
Gonzalez, Ray. “Ray Gonzalez, “Praise The Tortilla, Praise Menudo, Praise Chorizo.” The Big, Hungry Heart., 2012, https://sirenmouths.tumblr.com/post/25410907128/ray-gonzalez-praise-the-tortilla-praise-menudo.