Esperanza Cordero from "The House on Mango Street" and Jamal Wallace from "Finding Forester" are both teenage writers who strive to be the best. However, they have many differences like where they live, how they write, and their background. It is these differences that help the reader experience the true value of the stories. Esperanza is a Latino young teenager who lives on Mango Street, a low income neighborhood. Esperanza goes to a catholic school who has to take care of her family. Esperanza has many family and friends around her but she makes bad decisions in life. When Esperanza is at home she helps her mother and father out with her younger brothers and sister. When she is not helping with her family she goes to her …show more content…
Esperanza likes to hang out with Martin, a girl that never leaves the house because she is baby sitting her younger family members. They both like to play imaginary games with each other on her porch. Jamal is a African American teenager who lives with his mother and his brother in the Bronx. Jamal has lots of friends and family who live in the Bronx and come out to play basketball with him. Jamal's father is not around therefore Jamal's mother is raising him and his brother as a single mother . Jamal Wallace went to a public school at first then decided to transfer to a private school for basketball. Jamal did that because the public school was too easy for him and he had a full ride to the school, meaning Jamal did not have to pay for his education. When Jamal went to the new school he meet new friends and played basketball. Jamal meets his mentor by breaking into his home and taking some books and then he leaves his book bag. The next day Jamal has to go up there and get his book bag and his mentor graded all his papers and gave him some advice.The new school Jamal had to write a paper and he needed help so his mentor helped him on his paper which he did great
It all began when Jammal had the chance to transfer schools for better opportunities from grades to how he played on the basketball court. His old school never really thought about how different Jamal was from the others because Jamal never wanted to show how wise, or knowledgeable he was. As a community today, people are judged from where they come from and what they look like. To me, this shouldn’t matter; everyone should have the same amount of opportunities as one another. People may never know what someone is capable of if you don’t get to know who they are. Just as Berardinell (2000) says, “Although his streetwise background makes him a social outsider amidst a sear of rich, pampered kids, Jamal's performance on the court and in the classroom earns him the respect of many of his teachers and peers” (p. 1). Since he started this new school, he has been misjudged for his capabilities and creativeness on writing. Not only was Jamal the type of guy that liked to show his intelligence with others, but he always wanted to fit in with the crowd; therefore, he shut down the better opportunities he was given
Esperanza was a cowardly child who transformed into a brave woman. Alicia and Esperanza had a conversation about Mango Street and Alicia says, “Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too,” (Cisneros 107). Esperanza replies with, “Not me. Not until somebody makes it better,” (Cisneros 107). Alicia tells Esperanza that even though she does not like Mango Street, she will still come back, but Esperanza says she will not until someone makes it better. Esperanza does not want to go back to Mango Street even though she is a part of it. Esperanza wants to leave Mango Street for good. Although Esperanza knows she is a part of Mango Street, she does not want to be. The ignorant child believed she could leave Mango behind and forget about where she came from, but little does she know that someone will. When Esperanza decides to leave Mango Street, she says, “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out,” (Cisneros 110). Esperanza will leave Mango Street to come back and help those who cannot escape. Esperanza is leaving not for herself, but for others. She grasped the understanding that nobody would do anything to help Mango Street, or care about what happens to it, and decides to take matters into her own hands. Esperanza realizes that she has to be the one to change Mango Street. Throughout the story
Jamal Wallace is introduced in the film as a typical black teenage male who goes to a low class school in the Bronx and really excels on the court as a basketball player. He always plays basketball with his friends in the parking lot. Jamal is dared to go into the apartment of a recluse who watches them play through binoculars. Jamal is caught, running away in fright. Not too many people thought of him as being anything more than that, due to the fact that Jamal makes mediocre grades in his school in the Bronx, he does just enough to get by and to maintain a “C” average.
Jamal feels trapped in his old school as he struggles to fit in. Fitting in, in his old school means he can’t stand out and showcase his true academic talents but only his talents in basketball. "Remarkable? It's remarkable that I'm black? What does me being black have to do with anything?” people think is is incredible that a black boy from
In the Latino neighborhood, there are different roles that women take upon, and Esperanza gets to observe that, which impacts what she thinks about
The novel “The House on Mango Street” is written by Sandra Cineros. It deals with family, neighbourhood and dreams of a young Mexican girl, Esperanza Cordero growing up in Chicago. The novel begins when the Corderos move into a new house on Mango Street in the Latino section of Chicago. The fact that it is the first house they have ever owned, make them proud. But when Esperanza sees it, she is disappointed by the red, dilapidated house. It is not the one their parents told them nor Esperanza dreamt of.
However, in the end, Esperanza comes to the realization that she cannot cut ties with Mango Street because it has influenced her dreams and personality in ways that she would not have discovered if it weren’t for that neighborhood and its residents. Although Esperanza struggled through her times on Mango Street, she emerged with a passion and a confidence for writing, and inevitably found that the beauty amidst dirty streets was really just finding her true
of a young Latina girl’s identity. Esperanza, the main character, moves to a new house that is located on Mango Street. The neighborhood that she lives in is poor, considered dangerous to outsiders, and not a place she wants to stay at. The people around her make her feel as though she did not belong, but through these neighbors, Esperanza creates her identity as an aspiring character.
Furthermore, during her time on Mango Street, Esperanza also faces struggles with foreignness and society. Esperanza constantly faced the struggles of building her cultural identity in a place where Latinos are often seen as foreigners. Esperanza always felt so ashamed of living in the barrio and feeling different from her classmates all the time. When Esperanza first moved to the neighborhood she met a girl named Cathy who ended up being her first friend in the neighborhood-but only for a week. This was because Cathy was going to be leaving soon because the neighborhood was “getting
The reader will realize that every character that Esperanza describes affects her life in a significant way. In her youthful stage of life, we can make an inference that she is a reliable narrator. This is because what she observes is accurate, honest and unexaggerated. In her narration, she takes the dual approach. First, she tells the story of her own identity, where she wants to become an artist. The second part of her narration focuses on her Latino neighborhood, in a manner that the reader comes to know her
Esperanza, a strong- willed girl who dreams big despite her surroundings and restrictions, is the main character in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Esperanza represents the females of her poor and impoverished neighborhood who wish to change and better themselves. She desires both sexuality and autonomy of marriage, hoping to break the typical life cycle of woman in her family and neighborhood. Throughout the novel, she goes through many different changes in search of identity and maturity, seeking self-reliance and interdependence, through insecure ideas such as owning her own house, instead of seeking comfort and in one’s self. Esperanza matures as she begins to see the difference. She evolves from an insecure girl to a mature young lady through her difficult life experiences and the people she comes across. It is through personal encounters and experiences that Esperanza begins to become sexually aware and acceptance her place and self-definition in her community.
In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza, who is a young, Latino girl that lives in the ghettos of Chicago, struggles with her identity. It is the most common theme, and we see a lot of her wanting to change a main part of her identity, which is her name. The reason
Esperanza's overwhelmed tone reveals her fear and doggedness to adversity when sally's game defiles the garden's innocence/purity, exposing Esperanza to the realization that she cannot remain a kid forever.
Esperanza struggles with finding who she is. She is a young girl who moves a lot. Moving from house to house gets hard, especially for Esperanza. Being less fortunate and not owning a nice house like the wealthy can play a huge role on the way you view yourself. Esperanza is from Paulina, Keeler, Loomis, and now Mango Street. She lives with a family of a total of six. On Mango Street, they live in a small, red house. But, being in this house helps Esperanza find her identity. Mango Street is also a memory that Esperanza will never forget.
In the book, there is not a cohesive plot and things don’t happen in a particular order. It is simply a collection of random thoughts. A description of her family's hair. The high-heeled shoes that she and her friends play with one day. Her plan to let a bum live in her attic. Esperanza’s mind is wild. She jumps from one idea to another, constantly dreaming and planning. Never telling us all the details, but giving us just enough to keep us