In her gritty, harshly honest novel in verse, Because I Am
Furniture, Thalia Chaltas conveys a raw feel for the personalities of the
characters to reveal the shocking, true insight of Anke and her family’s home
life.

In the passage, Anke is grasping at any hint for her older sister
to realize it is time to stop being the victim. The connotation behind the word
“growling” communicates Anke’s desperation for Yaicha to speak out against her
abuse. (312) By using words like “desperate” and ‘begging” the
author describes scenes that direct us towards an empathetic reaction, allowing
us to share Anke and Yaicha’s grief. Anke responds to this by pleading “I’m
tired.” (312) The tired feeling that Anke describes comes from the fear this
family constantly lives in every minute, of every day in their lives. The
author adds this to the passage to communicate that Anke is at a turning point,
the rest of the novel leads up to this point in Anke’s emotional development as
it leads to her transformation. Translating her readiness to free herself and
her family. Without these key words the audience is not able to grasp the dark
and painful truth of their lives as deeply, with this, Chaltas deepens the
reader’s connection to the characters and their emotions.

 The author’s use of imagery
in the passage is once again used to help the reader connect to the poem
emotionally. By appealing to the senses, the author is able to evoke the
emotion that enables the reader to feel Anke’s desperation and Yaicha’s fear.
By adding the description “he rips you open, chips off pieces week by week” a
sense of despair visualizes itself as well as the savagery of abuse and the
toll it takes on the abused. (312). Anke describing Yaicha’s self worth as all
but a “mouthful of sawdust” at the refusal to speak up illustrates volumes
about their relationship. (312)  As Anke is desperately looking for some
company to share her radical ideas with, Yaicha’s unwillingness to participate
sparks resentment in Anke. Anke demeans her sister as a punishment for her
display of weakness, exposing the disparity between the two. The author
demonstrates this to build up Anke’s development throughout the story in order
to eventually show the story’s turning point.   

Chaltas’ use of repetition indicates a sense of urgency in the
passage. By repeating, “Every day” , the reader is reminded that this life is
an everyday battle, and it puts into perspective the exhaustion Anke is
feeling..(312) The author heightens the emotional impact of the piece by
repeating the phrase “Nobody can stop him.” (312-313) The intent of putting the
phrase at the end of the passage puts the reader in a tense phase since it is
the turning point of the novel wherein Anke decides to speak up for her family.
Repeating the phrase the first time establishes Yaicha’s dejection and the
second time affirms Anke’s decision to end the suffering. By putting the phrase
“Nobody” at the end of the passage the author creates the sense of finality in
the scene. (313)

Since her father has taken on the role of the antagonist, the role
of the protector in the family falls vacant. Joining the volleyball team
utterly transforms her, it helps her find a voice she didn’t know she had. In
the passage, Anke decides that she’s the only one in her family willing to
acknowledge that something is really wrong. She decides to fill in the void created
by her father to finally free her family from his tyranny.