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Hyperbole
Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Chapter 8 (Ocho)
Explanation and Analysis—Blood of Spring:
In this dense passage, the author uses personification, a metaphor, and an idiom to convey the unsettling influence of spring on both the natural world and on Antonio’s Márez brothers. Antonio explains, warily:
The lime-green of spring came one night and touched the river trees. Dark buds appeared on branches, and it seemed that the same sleeping sap that fed them began to churn through my brothers. I sensed their restlessness, and I began to understand why the blood of spring is called the bad blood.
Spring is not just a time of year in this passage – in his memory it was a living force that "came one night” and changed everything in Antonio’s world. In Antonio’s mind, spring is just as actively interacting with the landscape, moving through the world and “touching the river trees” with its “lime-green” presence. Spring is dynamic and alive, influencing the world around it deliberately and “churning” the “sap” of men and trees alike. Nothing escapes its influence.
The metaphor of "bad blood" as Anaya uses it here also connects the natural world's transformations to the internal changes happening to Antonio’s brothers. Just as the sap "churns" within the trees, the changes of spring awaken a sense of restlessness in León, Andrew, and Eugene. This metaphor links the hormonal upheavals of early adulthood to spring’s energy of change. Spring and their bodies are both a force of renewal and a source of disruption and uneasiness.
Moreover, the idiom "bad blood" refers to the traditional association of spring with heightened emotions and tension after the quiet of winter. Antonio’s observation here that the spring always comes with restlessness aligns with the idea that the season “churns” the blood. The blood of spring is too full of potential to be contained in a normal way, making people behave erratically.
Related Themes:
Chapter 16 (Dieciseis)
Explanation and Analysis—Cold Blood:
When Antonio tries to warn Ultima about what Tenorio intends to do to them, she dismisses his concerns. To explain why, she uses a simile comparing Tenorio to a wolf, and an idiom to describe the cowardliness of his murder of Narciso:
[...] [D]o not worry about Tenorio’s threats, he has no manly strength to carry them out. He murdered Narciso because he ambushed him in cold blood, but he will not find me so easy to ambush—He is like an old wolf who drags around the ground where he has made his kill, his conscience will not let him rest.
Ultima is trying to comfort an insistent Antonio here. To try and make him understand the situation, she uses a simile to compare Narciso to "an old wolf who drags around the ground where he has made his kill.” She is saying that, in the same way that wolves “drag” their scent glands to mark their territory, Narciso is exaggerating his ability to follow through on his intentions. Although Tenorio is still angry with her and with the world, she thinks Tenorio returns to the scene of his murder more out of guilt than spite. His inability to detach from the act of killing Narciso is, to Ultima, evidence that Tenorio's crime weighs on his conscience. She does not believe he will kill again because she sees him as a tormented figure rather than an active threat.
When a person acts "in cold blood,” they are committing an action that is premeditated and presumably unemotional. The idiom is often used in reference to committing a crime that a person has planned in advance to carry out. Crimes committed “in cold blood” are often punished more harshly than those that happen without time to reflect and plan, because the criminal acted in full knowledge of their choices. Tenorio ambushed Narciso “in cold blood,” but Ultima believes he will have a harder time getting the better of her.
Related Themes:
