Essay Questions

What symbolism may have the "fruit too ripe to eat’’?

The narrator mentions at one point the existence of a fruit that in her opinion is too ripe to eat. The narrator mentions the fruit shortly after she mentions her parents and the love between them. In literature, the fruit is sometimes used to symbolize something that is forbidden, something that should not be touched. Thus, what the author suggest through this symbol is the idea that for her, the kind of love her parents had was like a forbidden fruit, something she always wanted but something she knew she could never get.

What does the author mean when she claims that love became elusive?

To be elusive means to be hard to find or achieve. By saying that love became elusive, the author implies that finding love was not easy for her, almost as if love tried to avoid her. The expression also implies that until one point in her life, she believed in love and in the idea of finding true love.