"A Smart Cookie" Response

I enjoyed this vignette a lot more the second time I read through it. At first the purpose seemed a little vague and it seemed to jump around a lot, but after the second read through it got a lot clearer. I think this piece is Esperanza's mother reflecting on her life and how she could have done so much more with it and how she actually "could've been somebody". She seems bitter and regrets not doing more with her life. She doesn't want her daughter to make that same mistake that she did and is telling her all this for that reason. She tells Esparanza to go to school and study hard in hopes that her daughter will make something of her life and "be somebody".
After reviewing this writing I found that there are two metaphores in it. As Esparanza's mother is singing in the kitchen Cisneros says she is Madadame Butterfly. Also, at the end of the story there is the metaphore of her being a smart cookie. She was a smart cookie when she was younger but let her life get away from her and doesn't want to see that in her dauter's life.
It was a pretty easy read. There was no confusing diction and it was pretty easy to see the purpose and meaning after thinking about it. I also think it portrays the feelings of a lot of people her age and how they feel. Sometimes it is hard to see that what we are doing with our lives is really important. If we don't do BIG things that are noticed by a lot of people sometimes it seems that our life is just kind of ordinary and common, but I think that lots of the little things are what make the biggest difference and mean the most to others.