Power Of Words In After By Elizabeth Acevedo

Aries Plourde

Mrs. Tenenbaum

Communications in the 21st Century 3/8/23

Elizabeth Acevedo is an amazing author who was able to use many different styles of writing in her novel in order to show the progression of the different characters within the novel. In this essay, the main focus will be the character Xiomara, or X. X a woman of color who struggled in the beginning stages of the book to find herself. But, throughout the novel Elizabeth used “power of words”, “religion”, and “family expectations” in order to show the character development throughout the novel. Elizabeth not only did a great job with the character Xiomara but also with her mother who wanted X to become a nun so badly. In this paper, the hope is to make it easier to understand how certain themes can help show the development of characters over time.

To start, the first theme from the novel is “power of words” which can be seen helping Xiomara find herself throughout the book. The author of the book, Elizabeth Acevedo uses the theme “power of words” to help show emotion to help an individual grow as a person. “After” is a poem of many where Xiomara talks about her frustration with how men talk to her. Throughout the novel,

Despite X having rules about dating she still decides to continue to share a relationship with Aman. “Rule 1. I can’t date Rule 2. At least until I’m married Rule 3. See rules 1 and 2” (Acevedo, 89). Her mother yet again tries to force X away from what she wants to do by setting rules in place in order to keep her away from dating. “It just can’t last. Something is gonna go wrong. I’m not allowed to be happy while breaking all the rules” (Acevedo, 170). In this quote X is expressing her frustration with her mother and her rules. She starts to rebel and focus more on herself, dating Aman, skipping church, and focusing on her