Patricia Grace Butterflies Literary Analysis

Leigh Ann Mata
Dr. Diana Dominguez
ENGL 2341.28R
26 November 2016
Butterflies Literary Analysis Essay For many years the world has been divided into two distinct classes – the rich and the poor. But does this actually affect the way one notices the world? In the short story “Butterflies”, Patricia Grace portrays the different perspectives opposite classes have towards the world. In order to get her messages across the reader, Patricia Grace uses setting as well as literary devices such as symbolism, irony and metaphors throughout the story. The short story begins with a couple of grandparents sending their granddaughter off to school. They proudly inform their neighbor of how well she is doing and how their granddaughter writes in her book

The story does not physically state the grandparents are farmers, but one can assume they are from textual evidence given. “…her grandfather was hoeing around the cabbages. Her grandmother was picking beans. They stopped their work” (par. 8). As farmers, one would assume they are poor and have little or no education, hence the reason why they are so proud about having their granddaughter attend school. Despite the fact that the grandparents are not as educated or as one may call it “book smart”, they do happen to be “street smart”. They know from personal experience that butterflies ruin crops therefore they must kill them in order to preserve the

At school, the granddaughter reads her story to her teacher. She tells her ‘I killed all the butterflies’ (par. 17), shows her a drawing she made and says ‘This is me and this is all the butterflies’ (par.17). The teacher responds ‘butterflies are beautiful creatures. They hatch out and fly in the sun. The butterflies visit all the pretty flowers, they lay their eggs and then they die. You don’t kill butterflies.’ As a teacher, one would think they should be knowledgeable in the life cycle of a simple butterfly. They should know that caterpillars feed off leaves that are close to the ground and could damage the plants. It is understandable to make such a comment if the teacher had no idea the granddaughter lived on a farm with her grandparents. But either way, isn’t school a place for new ideas? Why not ask the student why she does such a thing? Why does the teacher immediately say what she is doing is