A Celebration of Grandfathers, by Rudolfo A. Anaya

944 Words2 Pages

The author's tone in the sentence sounds friendly and loving towards the ancianos. "These ancianos from the cultures of the Rio Grande, living side by side, sharing, growing together, they knew the rhythms and cycles of time, from the preparation of the earth in the spring to the digging of the acequias that brought the water to the dance of the harvest in the fall." The author says that the ancianos live together, which means that they treat themselves in a good manner, so they are friendly to each other. Also, it sounds like the narrator is part of their family since he knows a lot of what his ancianos are doing because he knows exactly when his ancianos start preparing for the fall. This paragraph clearly responds the question.

2. Anaya shifts from third person to first person, which makes the reader to actually

think about how the ancianos felt and what they represented. "Newcomers to Mexico

often say that time seems to move slowly here. I think they mean they have come in

contact with inner strength of the people, a strength so solid it causes time itself to

pause." In other words, the ancianos always had this special thing that no one else

had. People notice that something is different when they meet them, but they can't

put their finger on it. Also, the ancianos represented the balance of time and

organization. Also, they felt like they made a difference in people's lives. Clearly, this

paragraph answers this question.

3. The author uses parallelism and repetition to add importance to the paragraph. "We have all felt time stand still. We have all been in the presence of power, of knowledge of the old ones, the majestic peace of a mountain stream or an ...

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...uses this to prove that Anaya spends a lot of time with her grandfather, that she already knows the smell of the room. Clearly, this paragraph responds the question.

10. The syntax creates a sense of a clinical type of sentence. On page 445 it states, "When they spoke, they spoke plainly and with few words, and they meant what they said. When they prayed they went straight to the source of life. When there were good times, they knew ho to dance in celebration." In other words, each of the sentence is objective, or it gets to the point quickly, because they are short and the author says what she wants to say quickly. It also creates a sense of a serious type of sentence. One reason is that every time they talk, they don't joke around, they get to the point. Also, when they pray, they go straight to the source of life. Clearly, this paragraph answers the question.

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