Straw Into Gold: The Metamorphosis Of The Everyday

Born to a Mexican father and Mexican-American mother, the author Sandra Cisneros writes stories that she hopes will “make readers of all races aware of the complexities of straddling two cultures” (Meet the Author on pg. 1286 in Literature book.) “Straw into Gold” is an essay meant to explain why Cisneros started writing. In her essay, she doesn’t state why she started writing, but rather hints that her past is why she began to write poems and stories. The essay “Straw into Gold: The Metamorphosis of the Everyday” is meant to be read as a speech out loud to an audience. Her audience may have been other writers that she intended to inspire with her story of why she began writing. By including information on her background Cisneros lets her

In “Straw into Gold” she writes recollections of her family, home life, and childhood, all from which Cisneros draws the same conclusion: her past experiences are why she began writing. Her older brother, Henry, appears often in her stories and poems. Her brothers and the friends they brought home also became characters in her stories. Her life experiences and heritage became her writing material. There is also slight emphasis on doing things that seem dauntingly impossible. Cisneros starts her story with a flashback to a time when she had to make tortillas for a homecooked meal with friends--she had absolutely no idea how to make tortillas. There was also a time when she has to write a critical essay for her MFA exam on which she feared she would do poorly. Both these instances have to do with her emphasis on conquering obstacles. She writes, “I’ve managed to do a lot of things in my life I didn’t think I was capable of and which many others didn’t think I was capable either.” Similarly, later in the essay she writes, “I’ve done all kinds of things I didn’t think I could do since then.” She then goes on to list several things she has done in her life such as attending a prestigious university, studying with famous writers, and teaching poetry in schools in Illinois and Texas. Cisneros concludes her essay with these lines: “Along the way there has been straw for the taking. With a little imagination, it can be spun into gold.” This is an allusion to the story “Rumpelstiltskin” that is mentioned in her essay and is included in the title “Straw into Gold.” What she means by this is that your circumstances don’t determine you. You determine how your life will be. A magnificent and fruitful life may not be handed to you on a silver platter, but you can still make the most out of it and accomplish your dreams. Ergo, even if you are given straw, you can