Monkey Garden By Cisneros Essay Research Paper

"Can I Come Out and Play?" Aging promotes the loss of childhood and

innocence. Little girls go from skinned knees and imaginary friends, to runs in

their pantyhose and boyfriends. Sandra Cisneros’, "The Monkey Garden",

addresses the emotions that occur during this drastic transition through the

view of herself as a little girl. This paper will discuss the author’s central

theme and plot, the background of Cisneros , and the downward spiral of American

childhood. The main theme of the story is that the transition from childhood to

adolescence is not only uncomfortable, but also painful. This theme is revealed

through "The Monkey Garden"’s plot. First, the freedom of childhood is

addressed. As soon as the monkey leaves the garden, the children gain a new

playground. Cisneros describes the garden in using great visual description:

"There were sunflowers as big as flowers on mars and?dizzy bees and

bow-tied fruit flies turning somersaults and humming in the air." She even

describes the smells of the garden including the "sleepy smell of rotting

wood, damp earth and dusty hollyhocks, thick and perfumy like the blue-blond

hair of the dead." This vivid description of the scenes and aromas of the

garden enable the reader to imagine what the garden is like and relate in the

readers’ mind, their own childhood haven. Next, Cisneros describes the actions

and games which take place in the garden along with her own reasons for going

there. These games of jumping "from roof of one car to another and pretend

[ing] they were giant mushrooms" addresses the limitless imagination of a

child. The children, especially the author, flocked to the safety of the garden

in order to have a place to call their own, a place to belong to in a confusing,

adult world: "Far away from where our mothers could find us." When

this freedom and sense of belonging is stripped from the author, the results are

deadly. Not in the literal sense of death, but in the death of her childhood.

The first situation which reveals to the author the transition of growing up is

when she asks herself, "Who was it that said I was getting too old to play

the games? Who was it that I didn’t listen to??I wanted to run too?fast like

the boys, not like Sally who screamed in she got her stockings muddy." This

analysis made Cisneros shows her desire to fight the process of aging and

maturing by "running" from it. Next, the writer sees her friend Sally

playing a game. But this was a new game which no longer had a sense of freedom

and innocence, but possessed a flirtatious and more ""mature"

rules: "You can’t get the keys back until you kiss us [the boys]?"

This new game upsets and angers young Cisneros. She is so mad that she

"wanted to throw a stick." Cisneros goes to a parental authority in

order to somehow salvage a little more time to live as a child. Tito’s mother

replies to her cry by saying, "What do you want me to do, call the

cops?" this sarcasm breaks the author, yet still she tries to protect

Sally. When her attempts are rejected, she feels ashamed and frustrated. Once

again the author paints a distinct picture of a little girl crying in the

garden. She uses strong descriptive words which enable the reader to experience

her pain and anger: "?and cried a long time. I closed my eyes tight like

stars,?my face felt hot. Everything inside hiccuped" Finally, the story

ends with the Cisneros’ desire "to be dead, to turn into the rain, my

[Cisneros'] eyes melt into the ground like two black snails." She finally

realizes that the garden, along with her childhood did not belong to her

anymore.