In Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street she captures the lives and difficulties of poor Hispanic women through the eyes of a young character named Esperanza. Though Esperanza’s age is not specified at any point in the story it is very clear that she is going through the motions of growing up. In this story Cisneros shows the many troubles these women face such as conflicts with themselves, their husbands (and men in general), and their culture. She also presents the limiting choices they make. The women of this story often make life-changing decisions at a very tender age in hopes of escaping their families, and their backgrounds. However, instead of giving them freedom, these decisions only bring more captivity. A very common choice is getting married too early in order to free themselves. Many of the women of Mango Street have done this, and of course regretted it. An example of this is Sally, who is a young girl from Mango Street who was being abused by her father and in order to escape this tragedy she went ahead and got married, and she hadn't even got to the eighth grade yet. “She says she is in love, but I think she did it to escape” (Linoleum Roses ¶1), was what Esperanza thought of Sally’s sudden venture into the world of adulthood at such a young age. In T.H.O.M.S marriage is a gilded concept, because the women are blinded by the pretty house and the new title and the freedom, however, when they've actually experienced it, they come to a realization that they are enslaved with no getaway. For example, Rafaela Who Drinks Coconut & Papaya Juice on Tuesdays, who “gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafaela will run away since she is too beautiful to look at” (Rafaela Who Drinks Coc... ... middle of paper ... ...” (Marin ¶5). These women are sitting by their windows waiting on someone to come and rescue them, but this might never happen, because they have given in to this lifestyle of hurt, physical and emotional pain, and imprisonment. Like Isadora Duncan said, “Any intelligent woman who reads the marriage contract, and then goes into it, deserves all the consequences.” However, many of the women on Mango Street did not have a choice as they were impecunious and needed someone to fend for them. In the Mexican community, marriage is somewhat of an obligation, but in today’s world the government has provided many options for those lacking financial support, then again, many of these women were unaware of these as they have always been on Mango Street and did not have anyone to direct them on the right path. Works Cited The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
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.
“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.
In the poor slums of Chicago, a family living in poverty struggles to get by. In the book, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza is a twelve year old girl who lives with her family in the Windy City. She lives with her three siblings and both parents on Mango Street. Esperanza has no control over her life and family’s poverty. People who have no control over their life desperately seek change. Esperanza seeks to change her name, her home, and her destiny as a way to control her life.
Maria Elena de Valdes writes her review based upon the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros analyzing the identity of the main character, Esperanza, and how the text relates to Mexican-American individuals. Valdes’ review evaluates The House on Mango Street with a feminist view on to show the struggles of a young chicana girl coming of age and how she chooses to establish her own identity.
The House on Mango Street characterizes a community of girls and women restricted in their movements within the barrio. The roles of these girls and women are translated through the eyes of a child. When women in the barrio are confined, they can become a victim of abuse due to male domination. Women are confined to interior spaces in addition to their domestic roles as daughters, wives, and mothers. They live inside the barrio, but desire to escape and live outside the barrio. In addition, women can escape their restricted lifestyle by receiving an education. Esperanza, the child narrator is the only one who escapes this ethnic lifestyle (Mullen 6).
matter how hard people wish on a star or on a candle, the wishes never seemed to be
The plot of The House on Mango Street symbolizes an immigrant family moving to the United States in hope of a future with more opportunities. It is a story about a girl by the name of Esperanza and the retelling of the events in her childhood. Esperanza faces many challenges growing up in an underdeveloped neighborhood of inner city Chicago. Through her experiences at home, school, and with people she starts to blossom into the young woman she always wanted to be. Esperanza encounters many unjust acts as a result of living in an urban neighborhood. These encounters make her want to move to a different neighborhood because she feels like she does not belong on Mango Street. She feels trapped because she has a dream to attend college and become a writer. Her hope is that she will be able to live a prosperous American life and be able to come back to Mango Street to help those who cannot escape on their own. It is, most importantly, the story of a girl maturing into a woman an...
Latin American women in media are usually assigned the typical stereotypes. The stereotypes that are commonly associated with Latinas are thugs, gangbangers, laborers, servants, or seductress. In this novel we observe the experiences that many Latin American women have to endure due to the male-dominated society. The House on Mango Street is about a young Mexican-American girl, Esperanza, who dreams of a better life. Esperanza's family moves to a new house on Mango Street, but it doesn't meet the expectation of Esperanza's "dream house." The house is located in a crowded Latino neighborhood that consists of the lower income families. This book gives insight to the living conditions that many poor Latin-Americans live in.
The House on Mango street is a novel written by Sandra Cisneros who wrote this in a really creative and unique style; She did not write it all altogether but in small chapters. Cisneros was really successful in reflecting her Latino society by developing a character who is a young Latina girl called Esperanza showing how are the injustice, mistreatment and abuse from the males in the society. When Esperanza sees that other women who live in the same neighborhood are being abused by their husbands or fathers, her dream of leaving the house becomes stronger. Consequently she decides to leave her family house on Mango Street. In a particular chapter, ‘The Three Sisters’, the writer tells the reader about the story of Esperanza’s meeting with the three sisters who play a future teller role. She described their appearance in a beautiful way which makes the reader feel the same way Esperanza feels when she sees them. Additionally, she sat up the atmosphere of the scene before getting into details which also helps the reader feeling the moment. In ‘The Three Sister’ Chapter from ‘The House on Mango Street’, Esperanza by coincidence meets the three magical sisters who would tell her about her future and what to do with it which really comes to be the theme of identity and future.
The identity of these characters comes from all the factors and their experiences, but also reference back to Sandra Cisneros who is the author of “The House on Mango Street”. In an interview based on identity theory by Robert Birnbaum, Sandra Cisneros is asked about the disclaimer at the beginning of her book and her responsibility for what is in the story. She states, “I wanted to admit that characters were based on real people. But I wanted to also say and be truthful that it’s based on real people but it isn’t autobiography. Many books that you read, they have those disclaimers that say that, ‘None of the events and none of the people are based on real life’ and so on… Well, I don’t believe that. I think that as human beings many people
In The House on Mango Street, Cisneroz agitates the theme of diversity through her use of characters and setting. Cisneroz paints a multitude of events that follow a young girl named Esperanza growing up in the diverse section of Chicago. She is dealing with searching for a release from the low expectations that the Latino communities often put women whether young or old are put against. Cisneroz often draws from her life growing up that she was able to base Esperanza's life experiences on and portray an accurate view on Latino societies today. Cisneroz used the chapter “Boys and Girls” and “Beautiful and cruel” to portray Esperanzas growth from a young curious girl to a wise woman. She came into her own personal awareness and her actions that she has to now be held accountable for.
In The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, twelve-year-old Esperanza Cordero must navigate through the trials and tribulations that one can associate when encountering young adulthood. Cisneros uses her unique writing style of vignettes to illustrate the narrative voice of Esperanza in her text. A major theme that can be seen as the most prominent thus far, is on the feminist role of Esperanza as a female in her Latin American culture. The House on Mango Street is an overall bildungsroman that can be considered to be a feminist work of literature. The bildungsroman is encompassed by various feminist values throughout the text of written work, regarding the particular subject. Cisneros illustrates these feminist views through the creation
As the chapter opens, the first impression of Sire is one of a James Dean type of character. Sire and his friends are just sitting on their bikes, pitching pennies, or in other words, gambling. Esperanza tells us that she is scared of them, which makes me wonder why she would be afraid of them? She then says how her dad calls him a “punk.”
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.