Ortiz Cofer’s ‘‘Aunty Misery’’ is a retold Puerto Rican folktale that appears to explain the existence of misery in the world. The story also asserts the value of death. While the tale is Puerto Rican in origin, there is nothing in its content that indicates this. The themes in the story are universal, transcending not…
Tag: Judith Ortiz Cofer
Aunty Misery – Setting
Puerto Rican Folktales Puerto Rican culture is a mixture of Taino (native inhabitants of the Caribbean Islands), Spanish, and African influences. As such, the folktales from this country reflect this mixed heritage. Few purely Taino myths have survived, as the islands (including Puerto Rico) were colonized by Spain in the fifteenth century. (Christopher Columbus ‘‘discovered’’…
Aunty Misery – Literary Devices
Personification Simply put, personification is a literary device that grants personality to inanimate objects or natural phenomena. This is also known as anthropomorphizing, or granting human qualities to nonhuman objects. Personification occurs in the story predominantly through Death’s appearance as a tired old man. Death, a natural phenomenon, is literally personified, transformed into a character…
Aunty Misery – Themes
Death The main theme in ‘‘Aunty Misery’’ is the importance of death in the world. This significance is shown not only in the consequences of Death’s entrapment in the pear tree but also textually. Indeed, death is personified and becomes a character that drives the climax and denouement (end) of the story. He is also…
Aunty Misery – Characters
Aunty Misery Aunty Misery is the main character of the story; the eponymous hero, or more accurately, antihero. Regardless of her lack of endearing charms, the story revolves around her. Notably, Aunty Misery is not an actual name, but a nickname, one that describes the character and her attributes. In fact, the nickname serves to…
Aunty Misery – Summary
‘‘Aunty Misery’’ begins with these words: ‘‘This is a story.’’ This self-conscious opening seems redundant; readers are aware they are reading a story and hardly need to be reminded of that. However, the statement is effective in that it serves to elevate the fictional quality of the tale that ensues. No claim as to the…