I Ask For Peace Of Spirit And Prosperity By Sandra Cisneros

Min-Zhan Lu and Bruce Horner are English professors at the University of Louisville, who are co-authors of Writing Conventions. In this textbook, Lu and Horner define genre characteristics as,†setting, aims, relations to other genres, medium, and effect on self and life†(Lu Horner 69). They also discuss â€Å"tinkering† with genre itself. Genre is the base model which is expected to take a particular form. For example in the collection of writings, Little Miracles, Kept Promises, author Sandra Cisneros has eloquently expressed how the diversity of ideas themes within the several writings can all be thought of as the single genre of prayers. One of the prayers that adheres to the expected genre is, â€Å"... I ask for peace of spirit and prosperity†(Cisneros 271). When the idea of prayer is discussed, a person thinks of a positive respectful conversation between a person and a higher power that can also ask for the health and wellbeing of people in their d aily lives, while refraining from overzealous material demands. Therefore asking for peace of spirit and prosperity would adhere to the guidelines of prayer as a single genre. Changing the expected genre can be beneficial, but also can change the aims or effect of the genre making the purpose unsuccessful. The majority of the writings by Cisneros follow the common â€Å"standard† for the genre of prayer. On the other hand many of the writings â€Å"tinker† with the genre of prayer. Lu and Horner describe â€Å"tinkering† with a genre as