How to Eat a Guava
In the prologue, Esmeralda is an adult living in New York City. Seeing guavas in the supermarket, she describes in detail the right way to eat one so that the seeds do not end up between your teeth. Santiago writes, “when you bite into a ripe guava, your teeth must grip the bumpy surface and sink into the thick edible skin without hitting the center. It takes experience to do this, as it’s quite tricky to determine how far beyond the skin the seeds begin.” The detail with which Santiago recounts the act of eating a guava paints a vivid picture for the reader; it’s clear that this is something she has done countless times. The imagery conveys an intimacy and nostalgia for an experience that is deeply connected with her childhood in Puerto Rico.
It Seemed to Absorb Light into its Crevices
Santiago describes Don Berto, Juanita’s grandfather. She writes, “His skin was so black and wrinkled that it seemed to absorb light into its crevices, to be let out again in the most glorious smile I’d ever seen on anyone with no teeth. I was fascinated by his pink gums, the tongue spotted with white, the lips almost the same color as the rest of his skin. His gnarly hands stuck out of this shirt like gigantic hairless tarantulas, always moving, always searching.” Don Berto’s body tells the story of age and years of hard work in the field; the experiences are written into his body in his gnarled hands and black, wrinkled skin.
Every Sound Was Amplified
Esmeralda is visiting her grandmother in San Juan. Sitting outside in the evening she observes the sounds of life in the neighborhood all around her: “People talked, or fought, or sang boleros while they showered, and every sound was amplified…Spoons clanked against pots, and the street filled with the steamy smells of garlic, hot oil, and spices. Radio blared frenzied merengues from one house, while from another, an Evangelist exhorted his listeners to abandon their sinful lives and seek salvation.” The overlapping sounds reveal snapshots of the lives of those in her grandmother’s neighborhood. Sounds carry from one home to another, mixing the private with the public.
Delirious Convulsions and Ecstatic Trances
When Esmeralda goes to church she is shocked to see the normally sedate adults in her neighborhood become completely overcome by religious rapture. Santiago describes the scene with imagery, “[they] grabbed for his hand, waved their arms about in jerky motions. Tears streamed down their cheeks, their voices charged with sobs, choked laughter, unfinished prayers, joyous gratitude…Don Joaquín’s voice rose in timbre and pitch, until he seemed to disappear and only his words remained, reverberating against the cement walls, piercing the assembled into delirious convulsions and ecstatic trances.” The expressive language emphasizes how shocking and unusual it is for Esmeralda to see proper adults completely abandon societal norms and enter into such a frenzied state.
