Previous Next

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Marriage

Throughout the story, Ortíz Cofer returns to a motif of marriage, which forms a counterpoint to Elena’s youthful infatuation with Eugene. Before Eugene moves into the house next door, Elena already has the habit of watching its inhabitants. This section of the story functions as a tiny silent movie within the text, as Ortíz Cofer describes the life of the couple living there, whose daily comings and goings Elena can see from her fire escape perch over their yard. She imagines herself as part of their family and later uses them as a blueprint for the life she imagines having with Eugene within the same house.

Eugene’s parents, the next couple she observes in the same way, make a marked contrast with the Jewish neighbors. While the Jewish couple sometimes argued and separated, their life also contained scenes of care as one brought food to the other while sick. Elena never sees Eugene’s parents together. She sees his mother alone at the kitchen table where the Jewish couple would eat together. She sees his father alone working in the yard, heedlessly mowing down the beautiful flowering plants the old woman cared for. Her own parents’ marriage appears to be a strong union despite her father’s long working hours, as the two share their dreams of returning to Puerto Rico and their sorrows after Kennedy’s assassination. Elena’s own dreams of building a relationship with Eugene reflect the marriages she observes throughout the story.

Previous section Themes Next section Setting

Take a Study Break