Literary Analysis Of 'Confetti Girl And Tortilla Sun'

Conflict between the main characters in fictional stories can be so thick, you need a razor-sharp knife to cut it; that is definitely the case in the two literary texts I recently analyzed titled “Confetti Girl” by Diana Lopez and “Tortilla Sun” by Jennifer Cervantes. In the first text, tensions mount when a social butterfly of a teenage girl and her oblivious father lock horns over the subject of homework. In the second passage, drama runs high when a lonely child and her career-driven mother battle over the concept of spending the summer apart. Unfortunately, by the end of both excerpts, the relationships of these characters seem damaged beyond repair due to their differing points of view - the children end up locked behind their barrier-like

Towards the climax of the passage, the young girl shares her perspective on her dad’s desire to help her achieve her academic goals. “Nothing’s more important than his books and vocabulary words. He might say I matter, but when he goes on a scavenger hunt for a book, I realize that I really don’t” (Lopez 26). This cite illustrates just how sightless the teenage narrator is because she fails to see that her father only left the dinner table to assist her and to do something generous, but from her perspective she takes it as her father abandoning her. I can infer that the child’s anger and feeling of not mattering, which led to her storming off to her room, could have easily been solved if she asked her father what his true intentions were in pushing Watership Down so hard during a nice family dinner. On the other hand, the dad in “Confetti Girl” simply doesn’t pay attention to his daughter’s feelings often enough, and that sets off a bomb of conflict in their relationship as well. At the end of the excerpt, the father stoops to find a book, but is so engrossed in his task that he practically treats his daughter as non-existent; she narrates the following emotion-filled line. “He doesn’t hear my angry, stomping footsteps” (Lopez 27). This cite portrays that the father is

In the middle of the text, Izzy shows just how dramatic and shortsighted she is being about the temporary move. “New Mexico is worlds away from California. And what am I going to do for two whole months with someone I haven’t seen since I was six? That was half my life ago. She’s a stranger” (Cervantes 24). This cite delineates that Izzy wants to focus only on the fact that she doesn’t have a good relationship with her grandmother, but in doing so she misses out on the reality that her mom desperately needs Nana to safely and securely take care of her daughter while she earns her degree. I can deduce that Izzy’s dramatic words probably made her mother feel frustrated and furious, only adding to the intense conflict in the passage. On the contrary, the mother in “Tortilla Sun” is definitely not in touch with Izzy’s true feelings, which include loneliness, isolation, and a hint of depression. When Izzy retreats to her room towards the climax of the excerpt, she admits how she’s truly feeling, and the reader can tell that her mom isn’t aware of this fact. “I ached inside. Like the feeling you get watching a lost balloon float far into the sky until it becomes an invisible nothing” (Cervantes 35). This cite portrays