Sandra Cisnero’s House on Mango Street offers a first-hand account of the poverty encountered by many Mexican Americans. Esperanza, a young Mexican American girl, shares a variety of experiences that closely follow her development of identity and maturity. Throughout the novel, Esperanza follows the process of maturity and learns the ways in which gender, class, and ethnicity affect her place in society. At the beginning of the novel, it is clear that Esperanza has many things to learn about life. In the early chapters, Esperanza focuses on childlike thoughts such as the shame she feels for living in a home that is in poor condition. She describes herself as “a balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros 9). It is clear that Esperanza feels trapped in this place in life and feels that she is the …show more content…
For example, because of their gender, women of lower class often allow shame to stop them from pursuing education. This is proven when Esperanza’s mother explains “you want to know why I quit school? Because I didn’t have nice clothes” (91). Because of their ethnicity, Mexican American women are also expected to be subservient to their husbands. When telling the story of her great-grandmother, Esperanza describes “my great-grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off” (11). This situation shows that sometimes men of a certain ethnicity assume control over women. People of certain ethnicities that are of lower class are also treated differently because of the color of their skin. Esperanza explains “watch us drive into a neighborhood of another color and our knees go shakity-shake and our car windows get rolled up tight and our eyes look straight” (28). This behavior is common due to the stereotypes that poorer people are more likely to commit crimes. Ethnicity, gender, and class intertwine because of the affects each have on how people are
Throughout The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, many symbols, themes, and motifs appear while analysing the story of Esperanza growing up on Mango Street, a poor neighborhood. Symbols are a very big part of this book, because without deeper consideration of the text, this book would just be a series of dull, unrelated stories. One of the most prominent symbols in this story is the symbol of shoes representing our main character, Esperanza, maturing and adjusting into womanhood and her sexuality.
Sandra Cisneros' strong cultural values greatly influence The House on Mango Street. Esperanza's life is the medium that Cisneros uses to bring the Latin community to her audience. The novel deals with the Catholic Church and its position in the Latin community. The deep family connection within the barrio also plays an important role in the novel. Esperanza's struggle to become a part of the world outside of Mango Street represents the desire many Chicanos have to grow beyond their neighborhoods.
Most of the neighborhood's citizens are of diverse ethnicities including Esperanza, whose dad is Mexican and whose mom is Latina. The opening of this book shows us a lot of different characters and the discoveries of their ethnic backgrounds and how they are affected by poverty, loss, and the struggles in everyday life. After moving into the dilapidated red house on Mango Street, Esperanza suddenly becomes close friends with Lucy and Rachel, two girls who live in the same neighborhood. All the girls act liked they’ve known each other their entire life, but they obviously didn’t. Lucy, Rachel, Esperanza, and Esperanza's little sister, Nenny, have many exciting adventures on Mango Street like walking around in heels, buying a bike together and just having
Esperanza has expectations her whole life about what she is going to turn out to be and what she has to do, but also feels like her life is already determined. Ever since Esperanza was born, people tell her that she was “born on an evil day” (Cisneros 58) and that her mother, Lucy, and Rachel pray for her. If anyone was told that their entire life then it would make them feel down and can make them feel like they are evil. Esperanza feels even more like a bad person when they pretended to be her blind aunt, almost imitating her. “And then she died… And then we began
The House on Mango Street recounts the life and chronicles of Esperanza, a bold and daring Chicana (Mexican-American girl) and her adventures in a crowded Latino neighborhood in Chicago. Throughout the series of vignettes, Esperanza recounts her vivid memories and experiences through a series of short chapters or ‘lazy stories.’ Ranging from minute brief observations to fully narrated scenes, the novel extrapolates the naivety of a twelve-year-old girls’ short attention span giving the novel its unique structure. As a loose collection of memories, the thread that connects them together is Esperanza’s developing maturity and quest to find her identity, grappling with both the Mexican and American cultures. Throughout the book several characters are mentioned briefly, closely according with the geography of the barrio itself. Cisneros, the iconic
After Esperanza recognizes that it may take a while to find her dream house, she starts to appreciate the house on Mango Street. Esperanza realizes how many differences there are between people who have very nice houses and not very nice houses, she begins to think about what her life will be like in the future, “One day I’ll own my own house, but I won't forget who I am or where I came from. Passing bums will ask, ‘Can I come in?’ I’ll offer them the attic, ask them to stay, because I know how it is to be without a house” (Cisneros 64). As Esperanza beings to look at a different perspective of the world, she still looks forward to pursuing her dreams, but she understands the negative impact people may be dealing through, she doesn’t want them to go through what she has to. As Esperanza becomes more mature, she has a greater appreciation for her house: “What I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to” (Cisneros 79). Esperanza remembers the house on Mango Street the most out of all the houses she has lived in, she feels like her heart belongs to the house but her mind doesn’t. Thus, Esperanza beings to develop more appreciation towards her house the more she grows up and looks at a different view of
Unfortunately, her great-grandmother was forced to marry, unable to ever forgive her husband, and spent her life staring out the window, as do so many other women in Esperanza's community. With determination, Esperanza makes clear that she rejects the notion to be like that. She states, "I may have inherited her name, but I don't want to inherit her place by the window" (Cisneros 11). Women who are confined and staring out the window is a pitiful, recurring concept reiterated throughout the course of this story. Furthermore, Esperanza refuses to inherit her great-grandmother's destiny, knowing that to be "like a wild horse" (Cisneros 10) is advantageous. In addition, Esperanza verbalizes that there is no way that she will "accept this heritage passed on by so many women before her, who had to passively watch their lives who had to passively watch their lives pass them by, and perform the tasks that were expected of them" (Grum 43). Esperanza's mother offers incentive to Esperanza as she "encourages [Esperanza] to try to be the master of her own destiny and amount to something in her life" (Grum 43) because Esperanza's mother knows that she, herself "could've been somebody" (Cisneros 91). A warning is also provided as Esperanza's mother also instructs her that "shame is a bad thing because it keeps you down" (Grum 91). As a result, this drives Esperanza
In the novel “ The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros is a coming of age story about a girl named Esperanza. Throughout the story she endures many conflicts and learns from the situation’s she gets in from childhood to adolescence. She also learns from the women in her neighborhood or barrio who she wants to be and who she doesn’t want to be.Her strength has allowed her to escape, but advice from the three sisters help her to realize she has to help out others who cannot help themselves.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros told the story of a young girl named Esperanza Cordero. The story is divided into short vignettes, each focusing on a certain part of Esperanza’s life in her new neighborhood. She and her family moved into a Chicano barrio at the beginning of the novel. Throughout the story’s entirety, Esperanza has trouble conforming to her identity all while going through the difficult time that is puberty. Esperanza is a relatable character, one that experienced situations that could be reminiscent to the readers’ own lives. She had aspirations and goals for herself and she dedicated her life in trying to reach them after seeing that most of the women in her neighborhood were not able to follow their dreams. Through
Sandra Cisneros puts into perspective many issues that people faced in the 70s by creating a story in The House on Mango Street. A mirror to the life of impoverished neighborhoods as seen throughout the United States, The House on Mango Street follows a young girl named Esperanza and her experiences as a poor, hispanic woman. The book shows Esperanza’s story as she grows up on Mango Street. Observing the world through an adult perspective, Esperanza begins to understand her place in society. Throughout the book, the development of Esperanza and others is key to understanding what it means to grow up poor. This book is not only dedicated to the Women, but to the poor and the unfortunate. Cisneros shows the readers that being in poverty forces
We also see the shift in gender roles as Esperanza has to support the family while her father is gone to the funeral of his father. We also notice that Esperanza is looking at her surroundings through her father's eyes. This is a representation of coming of age. In seeing her character mature and take on the identity of her father, meaning a parent role, in being the responsible one while he's gone, she begins to imagine what it would be like if her own father died. As a teenager, she is unsure what to exactly do to help her father through these difficult times. All she does is embraces him with a
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.
She was not a master of style, plot development or characterization, but the intensity of feeling and aspiration are evident in her narratives that overrides her imperfections. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deeply disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact. Esperanza, a Chicano with three sisters and one brother, has had a dream of having her own things since she was ten years old.
In the novel, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros describes the problems that Latino women face in a society that treats them as second class citizens. A society that is dominated by men, and a society that values women for what they look like, and not for what is on inside. In her Novel Cisneros wants us to envision the obstacles that Latino women must face everyday in order to be treated equally.
In the novel, The House On Mango Street Sandra Cisneros tells us a story of a young Latin girl named Esperanza, growing up in Chicago. She also describes the problems that women face on a day to day basis by having men constantly oppressing them and making them feel less worthy and as second class citizens. A society that is dominated by men and abuses and mistreats their women and in which women are more interested in how they look. Cisneros wants us to see the different obstacles that Latino women must face in order to be treated equally and the role of women in that culture.