Comparison Of Summer Ritual And The Barrios

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The two essays, “Summer Rituals” by Ray Bradbury and “The Barrio” by Robert Ramirez, have both plainly established their differences, as well as similarities.The concept of family can be seen in both writings, yet these families do not consist of the same types of people. Yet another aspect in which these two writers diverged and agreed upon would be the neighbourhoods themselves. Through imagery, the authors presented both neighbourhoods in a lively fashion. However, also through imagery, the authors portrayed the cultural contrasts within the two neighbourhoods. Though not constricted to one definition, a family creates a sense of closeness. This concept of family encompasses a major part of both pieces of writing. “Summer Rituals” describes …show more content…

Using both imagery and diction, the two authors have built two neighbourhoods full of life. In “Summer Rituals”, the reader encounters a neighbourhood with friendships so closely intertwined, with phonographs playing in the background, with “chairs scraping from tables”, and with “dishes bubbling in the suds” (Summer Rituals). One does not lose any exuberance when switching over to “The Barrio”. Here the neighbourhood has many components that add to its liveliness. “The tortilleria fires up its machinery three times a day,” “The panaderia sends its sweet messenger aroma,” “The color-splashed homes arrest you eyes,”and “The gardens mutely echo the expressive verses of the colorful houses.” Nevertheless, the neighbourhoods also differ in their own ways. As one reads “The Barrio”, one can feel the preservation of history behind its fences. The communities are “isolated from the rest of the town by concrete columned monuments of progress, and yet stranded in the past.”(The Barrio) The barrio is Spanish speaking and historic. These elements are presented through the author’s diction. Ramirez uses multiple Spanish words to define certain shops or places. However, one does not encounter these differences of the neighbourhood from its surrounding when reading “Summer Rituals.” The neighbourhood, with its people and the activities going on inside it, does not stand out to be any different from other

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