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Interrelationship between literature and society
Interrelationship between literature and society
Literature And Society
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Throughout history, discourses have shaped important societal issues and explained social developments such as poverty. Attitudes and beliefs are articulated about the origins of these issues and how these issues can be solved. In the novel, The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros’ writing style of one representative of a minority voice. Poverty is addressed as a significant societal concern that has a gradual and an immense effect on Esperanza, a young girl struggling to grow up in Chicago’s poverty-stricken neighborhood. Esperanza expresses her discontent with the inevitable factors of poverty in her community through her words, actions, and ideas. In the end, she brings forth that even in oppressive surroundings, one can rise up past …show more content…
When observing the houses on the hills, Esperanza fantasizes of residing in and being content in a beautiful home of her own. She is incapable of unveiling how ashamed she is of “...all of us staring out the window like the hungry. I am tired of looking at what we can’t have” (Cisneros 86). When Esperanza discovers the belligerent reality of life she becomes disappointed and deems herself foolish for not knowing better. Many policymakers justify that “Poverty can even be seen as necessary to achieve economic growth for most of the population at the expense of those living in poverty” (Bryant 2013). Unfortunately, minority groups unwillingly contribute to the persistent inequalities of life as a result of poverty. For Esperanza, she becomes determined to surmount this injustice and emerge into a life of her own. Esperanza’s desire to leave Mango Street is the desire to lay new …show more content…
Esperanza's poverty acts as a physical obstacle from leaving Mango Street, but it does not prevent her from having ideas and from creating dreams and desires. When a nun from her school passed by and asked where she lived, her reaction to Esperanza’s response “...made me feel like nothing” (Cisneros 5). Everytime she had hope for a nice and permanent home, it became a fabricated dream. In impoverished communities, the people feel disheartened as discourses on poverty belittle them. “This contributes to their further exclusion from participating in activities normally expected of citizens...and not only justifies the presence of poverty, but also contributes to its perpetuation.” (Bryant 2013). But as Esperanza grew and became increasingly strong, she only felt encouraged to reach for her goal. From this poverty was born Esperanza's dream and she “... knew then I had to have a house. A real house” (Cisneros
“The House on Mango Street” emphasizes on this issue, even broadens to explain other controversial matters such as abuse, misogynistic views, and stereotypes. The protagonist, Esperanza Cordero moves to Mango Street where she must witness the abuse affecting her friends, neighbors, and family. Either Sally a close friend, Mamacita a neighbor, or her own mother handling 4 children. Over the course of the novel Esperanza changes physically and mentally. Through the use of imagery as well as complex, descriptive vignettes Cisneros epitomizes the misogynistic views within Esperanza’s
Modern society believes in the difficult yet essential nature of coming of age. Adolescents must face difficult obstacles in life, whether it be familial, academic, or fiscal obstacles. In the House on Mango Street, Esperanza longs for a life where she will no longer be chained to Mango Street and aspires to escape. As Esperanza grows up on Mango Street, she witnesses the effect of poverty, violence, and loss of dreams on her friends and family, leading her to feel confused and broken, clinging to the dream of leaving Mango Street. Cisneros uses a reflective tone to argue that a change in one’s identity is inevitable, but ultimately for the worst.
Symbolism is the key to understanding Sandra Cisneros’ novel, “The House on Mango Street”. By unraveling the symbolism, the reader truly exposes the role of not only Latina women but women of any background. Esperanza, a girl from a Mexican background living in Chicago, writes down what she witnesses while growing up. As a result of her sheltered upbringing, Esperanza hardly comprehends the actions that take place around her, but what she did understand she wrote in her journal. Cisneros used this technique of the point of view of a child, to her advantage by giving the readers enough information of what is taking place on Mango Street so that they can gather the pieces of the puzzle a get the big picture.
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.
In The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, there is an emphasizes on how rough it is to be part of the low economic class . Through her words you can create an image about the way poverty affects children. She goes through the book making great remarks on the topic. The different experiences that Esperanza goes through have a lot to connect with her family's financial status. She specifically describes her feelings about the poverty they live in through three of her short stories. The three short stories in which poverty seems to be an obstacle are The House on Mango Street, Our Good Day, and Chanclas. When the book begins the downgrading of Esperanza's esteem begins with it.
“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.
In the book, “The House on Mango Street” Esperanza possesses many aspects of her identity that affect her life. The most prominent being her socioeconomic class. In the book Esperanza is describing her old home and says, “We had to leave the flat on Loomis quick, the water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was too old.” (4) She later states “Our house would have running water and pipes that worked.” when describing her dream house. It’s clearly proven here that her family has been living in a place where there was no running water. Esperanza views running water as a luxury and not a basic human need, whereas wealthier people can easily obtain running water while she cannot. Secondly, Esperanza describes her neighborhood
Esperanza, the main character of The House on Mango Street, a novella written by Sandra Cisneros in 1984, has always felt like she didn’t belong. Esperanza sought a different life than the ones that people around her were living. She wanted to be in control of her life, and not be taken away by men as so many others around her had. Esperanza wanted to move away from Mango Street and find the house, and life she had always looked for. Through the use of repetition, Sandra Cisneros conveys a sense of not belonging, that can make a person strong enough to aspire to a better life.
As it is written in the book, “Where do you live? She asked. There, I said pointing up to the third floor. You live there? There. I had to look to where she pointed-the third floor, the paint peeling, wooden bars Papa had nailed on the window so we wouldn’t fall out. You live there? The way she said it made me feel like nothing. There. I lived there. I nodded.” (Cisneros). As can be read there in a small part of the vignette, it talks about how the nun is pointing as Esperanza’s house and says it kind of in an uncomfortable way. It makes Esperanza feel like she is a nobody, below everyone else, as she lives in the poverty state. This connects to the article by showing how miserable teens can be when their family live in poverty. Along-side that, another quote from the vignette, “But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it at all.” (Cisneros). The author explains in more detail how the house is nothing they dreamed of, and that it is all old and beat up. In attachment to the article, this also explains that some people can only dream of things that they can’t have, somewhat sending the teens into a depression. If they can’t have health care or in Esperanza’s case, a nice house, then they could start doing things that they don’t know is right or simply get things that are much easier to get, such as drugs or alcohol.
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 class we read the book House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, the main character Esperanza lives in a lower working class neighborhood and street called Mango Street dealing with poverty. Her house is an important symbol in House on Mango Street. It represents Eperanza’s process of maturing as a person and the change in her perspective of poverty and struggle being shameful, to it being something to embrace and use as motivation. This is a very important part of the story because it is in many aspects where we are from that make us who we become. This is interesting to see in the book as her opinions and perspective of things inside and outside of her neighborhood are shaped by her experiences.
Esperanza, a Chicano with three sisters and one brother, has had a dream of having her own things since she was ten years old. She lived in a one story flat that Esperanza thought was finally a "real house". Esperanza’s family was 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.
Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza learns to resist the gender norms that are deeply imbedded in her community. The majority of the other female characters in the novel have internalized the male viewpoint and they believe that it is their husbands or fathers responsibility to care for them and make any crucial decisions for them. However, despite the influence of other female characters that are “immasculated”, according to Judith Fetterley, Esperanza’s experiences lead her to become a “resisting reader” in Fettereley’s terminology because she does not want to become like the women that she observes, stuck under a man’s authority. She desires to leave Mango Street and have a “home of her own” so that she will never be forced to depend on a man (Cisneros 108). During the course of the novel Esperanza eventually realizes that it is also her duty to go back to Mango Street “For the ones that cannot out”, or the women who do not challenge the norms (110). Esperanza eventually turns to her writing as a way to escape from her situation without having to marry a man that she would be forced to rely on like some of her friends do.
Although Esperanza is constantly reaffirming that she wants to move away from Mango Street, we know by the end novel that she will one day return to help those who will not have the opportunities Esperanza has had in her life. Indeed, in the closing pages Esperanza admits that she cannot escape Mango Street. She can never again call it home, but it has influenced her dreams, formed her personality, and she has learned valuable life lessons from its inhabitants. That is why, explains Esperanza, she tells stories about the house on Mango Street, revealing the beauty amidst dirty streets and unveiling her true inner self, the peace of knowing that her “home is where her heart is.”