Figurative Language: The Tortilla Curtain Despite its emphasis on love and crutch – this quote describes many things about a certain “stereo type” of relationships considering how many relationships are viewed differently, and most predominantly, are different. This quotation from T.C Boyles the Tortilla Curtain, reveals the way in which a basic “stereo type” relationship is being described. “She leaned into her husband, like a sapling leaning into a rock ledge” (42). This quotation is a simile, describing and comparing a passionate relationship being viewed, to a simple sapling tree who is leaning into the rock ledge. However, this quote also describes how the wife was leaning into her husband for support, she was depending on her husband to be …show more content…
The figurative meaning of this quotation mostly emphasizes on trust and dependence. As previously mentioned how the wife leaned into her husband for support, just as the sapling tree leaned on the rock ledge for support as well, as shown in the story, it’s more of having trust and dependence in this matter. For the wife it reveals that it’s more of a trust lean because just as all relationships in public they hold hands, hug each other, or in this case lean onto each other, and it emphasizes something natural that the wife was doing with her husband since they are married, she was simply showing compassion and trusted her husband to support her. As for the sapling tree, it describes dependence due to the fact that the sapling doesn’t have much of a choice, therefore, it depends on the rock ledge to keep it up. In addition, the literal meaning of this quotation describes friendship and growth. When the wife was leaning into her husband, it shows she was just showing passion and friendship towards her husband, and as for the sapling tree leaning into the rock ledge, it describes growth, because as it became bigger and bigger the sapling didn’t have much of a choice but to grow