The poem “good hotdogs”, by Sandra Cisneros, published in 1987, is much more than what it seems on the surface. I thought so on my first read. All it seems to do is describe a scene. But once I started to look deeper into the poem's workings, the more I understood it was much more than it let on. In general, the main theme of the poem is that of friendship, told within the
literary devices of symbolism, imagery, and allusion.

The symbolism of this poem is characterized by the very title of the poem “good hotdogs”... ok well the “hotdogs” part to be more specific. Hotdogs within the poem are characterized in 2 ways: delicious and cheap. Deliciousness is shown within lines like “We’d eat Fast till there was nothing left”, showing that they tasted good, and cheap shown with lines like “50 cents apiece”. These both work hand in hand, since friendship is something priceless yet is great, thus conveying the theme of friendship. A counter to this is that while friendship is priceless, it seems the poem is describing the hotdogs more as cheap, which you wouldn’t really describe friendships as. But, to counter that, the moment itself is priceless, that being eating the
hotdogs, similar to, say, taking your friends to a movie.

How imagery plays a role in the theme of friendship is through its creation of positive sensory details(1a). These include lines like “hold hot In our hands” and “smelled like steam”. “Hold hot…” describes touch, while “smelled like steam” describes scent, and both have a positive connotation. These help to elevate the theme given what we went over through symbolism, that being the hotdogs represent friendship. “Hold hot In our hands” gives a feeling of warmth, similar to that of a friendship and the warmth that that creates. Then you have “smelled like steam” which is a generally pleasant scent, similar(again) to the pleasantness of a
friendship. A counter to this could be, say a linelike “Fast till there was nothing left”, which describes it as quick, which friendship isn’t. Again, I feel a line like this is describing the moment, not the friendship, since again moments like these are quick.

Finally, allusion is shown within 1 specific line, “50 cents apiece”, the opening line to the poem. On the surface, like this poem, all it seems to be is a minor descriptor. But let's look a bit deeper. “50 cents apiece” is describing the price of a hotdog. Ok so what? Well, a hotdog isn’t 50
cents apiece in the U.S. today. In fact, it wasn’t 50 cents apiece when she wrote this poem… it was a dollar 50. So, when was this poem written? Well, in 1980, a bit under the time when she wrote the poem, they were 1.72$(1), more than 50 cents. Once we inject those stats into an inflation rate calculator(2), we get that it was only 50 cents in exactly 1950. 5 years before 1950, Ww2 had just ended, and the U.S. was in one of its most prosperous times ever as the great military power of the world. On top of that, the U.S.(for now (Red Scare)) was in a pretty united time. That idea of unitedness could play into the theme of friendship since, well you could say
you are “united” with your friends in a way.

So, given the 3 literary devices used, symbolism, imagery, and allusion, the poem is able to effectively describe the theme of friendship to the reader. Something I should say is that I didn’t truly expect it to be this complex. When I first read it(with focus), I thought it was just a pretty bland poem that didn’t say much, but after I consulted the “Good Hotdogs Analysis”(1a)
video, I realized it was saying much more than it let on. You could kinda say the same thing about friendship, being its much more complex than what seems like a simple surface, and the more you think about it, the more you can appreciate it, and appreciate those moments, where its just you and them, and maybe, just maybe, your eating some hotdogs, good hotdogs :DDDDD.

Works Cited & Consulted:

(1)Hot dogs price inflation, 1980→2024 (in2013dollars.com)
(2)Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar's Value From 1913-2024 (usinflationcalculator.com)
(1a)ConsultedBing Videos(Bing :D)
(2a)ConsultedGood Hotdogs poem - Sandra Cisneros (best-poems.net)