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Experience of adolescence
Social influence on behavior
Experience of adolescence
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It only takes one burning tree to devastate an entire forest. This is especially true in the summer because, during this season, moisture in the wood is driven out to create the perfect breeding ground for flames. Similarly, when you do something, you affect several people around you, whether you know it or not. However, one sign of maturity and coming of age is recognizing this fact, because it shows a connection between reality and the outside world. Although I thought that this idea was not really linked to coming of age, my opinion changed when I read “The House on Mango Street”. At the beginning of the story, Esperanza, the main character lives her life only looking at things from her own perspective. This is most prominently seen when Esperanza shows her house to one of the nuns from her school. …show more content…
You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing” (Cisneros 5). Although Esperanza’s dislike towards her current living conditions is justified, she fails to take in consideration the hardships that her parents went through to live even in this house, which shuts her out from the outside world. Similarly, when I was younger, I was embarrassed to talk about my small house to my friends, who often lived in much bigger houses, and I did not like to talk to many people because of this feeling. However, both Esperanza and I changed opinions later on in life. Towards the end of the story, Esperanza contemplates her future outside of Mango Street. She says, ”Friends and neighbors will say, What happened to that Esperanza? Where did she go with all those books and paper? Why did she march so far away? They will not know I have gone away to come
In the beginning of the story Esperana is told that her new house on Mango Street will be the answer to her dreams. She is told that, in their new house, her family will be able to live like other families. “They always told us that one day we would move into a house, a real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn’t have to move each year”. Esperanza is told that in her new house there will be plumbing that worked, “real” stairs, a basement...
When Esperanza is struck by the realization that she is not accepted in society, she aspires to bring a more hospitable environment to fruition. At the beginning of The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is questioned by a nun about where she lives. The condemning tone of the harridan shakes Esperanza, causing her to state, “There. I lived there… I knew then I had to have a house. A
Esperanza sees all of the women around her, and most of them are the same. The overall idea of the women on Mango Street is they are property to their husbands. They cannot do anything unless their husbands allow them to. It also starts out at a young age. The young girls like Esperanza see the women that live around them and think that is the way to live. They admire them so they start to mature faster than they should. Sally is one of them. Sally loves the attention that she gets from boys, but her father does not like that. Sally grew up and got married at a young age.
Esperanza is the heart and soul of this story. She changes and develops new habits over the course of the book. Because of how the book is written, she’s also the main character who gives the story it’s unity. Everything in the story is told in her perspective anyway so she could be the narrator and the protagonist. Even the stories about other characters have some sort of connection with Esperanza. She is The House On Mango Street, she is Esperanza.
Esperanza begins her journal by stating where she has been and where she has temporarily ended at. When she finally moved with her family, Esperanza immediately realizes that her place in the world was not going to be in the “small and red”
Esperanza wishes she could change where she lives. Even though Esperanza moved to a nicer house, she still does not like the house on Mango Street. Esperanza’s parents made the house they were moving to seem luxurious. Upon arrival, Esperanza realized “the house of Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath” (4). Even though the house on Mango Street is an improvement, it is still not good enough for Esperanza. Esperanza says, “I knew I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t. the house on Mango Street isn’t it” (5). She dreams of one day having a bigger and better house. The new and improved house will be a place for others to come and stay, “some days after dinner, guests and I will sit in front of a fire. Floorboards will squeak upstairs. The attic grumble. Rats? They’ll ask. Bums I’ll say, and I’ll be happy” (87). Dreaming of moving to a new house not only gives Esperanza the feeling of control and independence, but makes her
Esperanza was able to provide the audience with an image that was vivid of her surroundings through her diction and tone. Esperanza presents a series of stories that she deals with in her neighborhood as she grows up. Esperanza arose from poverty and always dreamt of having a house of her own. Sandra Cisneros' strong cultural and gender values have a tremendous influence on The House on Mango Street. Cisneros feels that the Mexican-American community is very abusive towards the treatment of women because men are seen as the powerful, strong figure.
“Someday, I will have a best friend all my own. One I can tell my secrets to. One who will understand my jokes without me having to explain them” (9). These are the longing words spoken by Esperanza. In the novel The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is young girl experiencing adolescence not only longing for a place to fit in but also wanting to be beautiful. This becomes complicated as Esperanza becomes more sexually aware. Throughout the novel, Cisneros argues the importance of beauty and how Esperanza deals with beauty as a part of her identity. When Esperanza meets Sally a new friend, Esperanza’s whole world is turned upside down. Esperanza’s views on beauty change from a positive outlook to a negative one by watching how beauty has damaged Sally’s life.
" They always told me that one day we would move into a real house, that would be ours. A house with trees, a white picket fence, real stairs and running water. The house on Mango Street isn't it. " (Cisneros, 4). This quote gives the reader a better understanding on why Esperanza is so frustrated with her poverty. Esperanza is constantly being let down because her poverty gets in the way. Her parents make all these promises to her that they cannot keep, because they do not have the money. Esperanza is still young and so far her life has been full of disappointment. When Esperanza's family moved into The House on Mango Street Esperanza's was excited, she expected to be moving into her dream house. Yet, once again her family's poverty gets in the way and they move into a shabby house. Esperanza's constant disappointment causes her a great deal of emotional pain, and all this pain leads back to her family's
As Sandra Cisneros describe in the introduction of who Esperanza is, her vision is the same vision of most women who seek life outside a male dominant world, “Which way?” I didn’t know exactly, but I knew which routes I didn’t want to take – Sally, Rafaela, Ruthie-women whose lives were white crosses on the roadside” (xxiv). Her dreams and hopes of the non-patriarchal life doesn’t include her taking responsibility toward her family or the people she has encountered. Esperanza realizes that Mango Street, the women, and the community are just as important to her as to where she is going . She becomes accustomed with the people in her neighborhood and begins to feel affection and a sense of responsibility to come back to Mango street to bring the women and the community hope. She no longer sees herself as a woman motivated for self-determination. Instead, she identifies herself as part of community who must give back to the women of Mango street to break the cycle of the patriarchal system that plagues the neighborhood. The vignette “The Three Sisters” she speaks with the three sisters, its then when Esperanza realize that helping the neighborhood women will be a lifelong effort. “When you leave you must remember to come back for the others…You must remember to come back. For the ones who cannot leave as easily
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
...will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away.” (Cinceros 110) This shows how Esperanza needs to break free of Mango Street and move on because Mango Street has nothing more to offer a young free mind like Esperanza. She will move far away so she can continue on with her American Dream as one person and not have the weight of her family’s American Dream on her shoulders.
She lived in a one-story flat that Esperanza thought was finally a "real house". Esperanza’s family is poor. Her father barely made enough money to make ends meet. Her mother, a homemaker, had no formal education because she had lacked the courage to rise above the shame of her poverty, and her escape was to quit school. Esperanza felt that she had the desire and courage to invent what she would become.
“Home is where the heart is.” In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops this famous statement to depict what a “home” really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a depiction of who we are inside and how we grow through our life experiences. In her personal, Cisneros depicts Esperanza Cordero’s coming-of-age through a series of vignettes about her family, neighborhood, and personalized dreams. Although the novel does not follow a traditional chronological pattern, a story emerges, nevertheless, of Esperanza’s search to discover the meaning of her life and her personal identity. The novel begins when the Cordero family moves into a new house, the first they have ever owned, on Mango Street in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza is disappointed by the “small and red” house “with tight steps in front and bricks crumbling in places” (5). It is not at all the dream-house her parents had always talked about, nor is it the house on a hill that Esperanza vows to one day own for herself. Despite its location in a rough neighborhood and difficult lifestyle, Mango Street is the place with which she identifies at this time in her life.
Sandra Cisneros, the author of House on Mango Street conveys her thoughts throughout the whole book. In the book, she has a large family of seven, while in reality she has a family of 9. Both of these families are large, and this allows for the author to express her feeling toward these large families. There are two sides to the story that Sandra Cisneros tries to state. First is the identity already planned out by the people around her including her grandma, neighbors, and family. Then, there is the identity Esperanza tries to make for herself throughout the story. Growing up in an underdeveloped family, Esperanza finds it very hard to express her own thoughts. Esperanza dreams for this intangible idea of escaping poverty, but the siblings needing her help force this unrealistic dream to be unimaginable. “Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor,” (Cisneros 9) clearly shows what the author is trying to state; Esperanza wants to dream her own future but just does not have the power to do so. Living in a home that feels like hell, Esperanza wants to escape the ropes society has placed on her and live life the way she wants to with her own unique identity.