Summary Of On Not Shoplifting

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In this poem excerpt, from On Not Shoplifting written by Julia Alvarez, taken from Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries, we are introduced to a character who is contemplating on stealing a book from her school’s bookstore. Throughout the excerpt the author uses literary devices such as selection of detail as well as imagery in order to depict the internal struggle the protagonist faces of whether or not to steal the book. When we are first introduced the protagonist she begins by speaking about how this book caught her attention and why she became so interested in it. She states “ Your book surprised me on the bookstore shelf- swans gliding on the blueblack lake; no blurbs by the big boys one the back; no sassy, big haired picture to complicate