Exploring Strangers’ Similarities and Differences: An Analysis of Geraldo and Marin

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Two simple strangers can share a couple of differences but many similarities. The unexpected can occur at the most inconvenient time when two people meet. In “Geraldo No Last Name”, Sandra Cisneros uses short but precise diction and syntax to compare and contrast Geraldo and Marin in order to reveal the two strangers’ similarities, such as their insignificance, and differences, such as their social class. Two individuals, who barely know each other, can have many personal traits in common. For example, Marin and Geraldo are both “young” people who enjoy going to “dances” even though they know “nothing” about each other. Geraldo is basically a nobody to everybody, and Marin is a nobody to Geraldo. Marin was just someone who went to dances, and Geraldo was just some “wetback”, so that means that they were both insignificant on their own levels. Geraldo “wasn't [Marin's] boyfriend or anything like that”. Geraldo and Marin both shared a casual, short relationship. Neither of them saw it necessary to build a strong, long-lasting, serious …show more content…

For example, an “ashamed brazer” and an “uptown” girl cross paths, only to have their short relationship abruptly destroyed after Geraldo’s unexpected death. Marin was probably in a higher social class than Geraldo and she must have had money, because she could afford to go to all those dances. Their relationship was abruptly terminated, because they were never really destined to be together; Marin was sympathetic, worried, and got stressed, but Geraldo was just someone who just did not care. Cisneros uses diction such as “what did it matter” to show Geraldo’s insignificance to the people around him. Geraldo was unimportant and nothing because he didn't “matter”. On the other hand, Marin was more well-known, because she attended the dances Fontana, Logan, and Embassy. Two simple strangers may lack a connection because of their

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