In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros tells the story of Esperanza and talks about her life in a rural, poor, Hispanic neighborhood. Because her family was poor, their house on Mango Street was small, whereas Esperanza wants a bigger and better house. On Mango Street, Esperanza meets Lucy and Rachel, who also come from poor families. Over the years, Esperanza thinks about how to get through poverty. One of the novel's main themes is “Maturity.” As Esperanza matures, her desire for men emerges. However, when, she is sexually assaulted at a carnival, she puts aside her sexuality to focus on writing. Despite the many hardships she experiences, neighbors tell Esperanza in the end that she must return to Mango Street to help the people who still live there instead of moving away. Through the character of Esperanza, Cisneros discusses the difficulties of living in poverty and struggling to overcome one's circumstances. The main character in The House on Mango Street is Esperanza. In Spanish, Esperanza means “Hope" and that everyone has a chance. She hopes of having a house of her own, far away from this street. She’s a girl who observes every bit of what goes on in her neighborhood. One thing that motivates Esperanza is escaping poverty and achieving the American dream. This motivation is reflected when she talks about how much she hates living in a small house and hopes of having a beautiful house, “ Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem” (108). The only thing that keeps her moving forward is expressing herself through her writing, hoping for a better day to come. To achieve her goals, Esperanza looks to other women in the neighb... ... middle of paper ... ...urged SeaWorld to stop doing these shows “Lawmaker Wants To Ban Orcas At San Diego's SeaWorld” (Neuman). But SeaWorld responded back with this statement, “the film conveys falsehoods, manipulates viewers emotionally and relies on questionable filmmaking techniques to create 'facts' that support its point of view” (Neuman). Clearly they do not want this happening, since most of the profit comes from these whales. Since this movie has been released, the SeaWorld attendance “SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. reported a 13% drop in attendance for the first three months of the year”(Martin). It clearly shows that, this movie touched American people’s heart and has realized that it is much better to seem them in wild. As Bloom states: “These beautiful creatures are much too large and far too intelligent to be confined in small, concrete tanks for their entire lives”(Neuman).
The House on Mango Street is a novel by Sandra Cisneros. It is set in a poor, Latino neighborhood around 1960. The main character, Esperanza, is expected to get married in order to support herself. However, Esperanza strives for independence, and seeks to end the cycle of abusive patriarchy that holds Mango Street in thrall. Through the use of syntax and figurative language, Cisneros establishes that a sense of not belonging can fuel an individual’s desire for a better future.
“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
The author of The House on Mango Street and the producer of The Color Purple are able to integrate numerous important thematic ideas. Many of these ideas still apply to our current world, teaching various important lessons to many adolescents and adults. The House on Mango Street is a collection of vignettes written by Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican-American writer. The novel depicts many aspects of Sandra Cisneros’ life including racism, and sexism that she and the main character face. The novel revolves around Esperanza Cordero, a young Latina girl, who is growing up in Chicago as she faces the various struggles of living in America. The various vignettes reveal many experiences Esperanza has with reality and her navie responses to such harsh
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).
“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.
Characteristics are what define us as human beings. When comparing and contrasting one person to another, characteristics is used to do so. Characteristics such as physical appearance or emotional perceptions help define how a person is perceived, and how we do, or do not compare in such ways. Authors use descriptions of physical characteristics to help us paint a picture in our mind of characters’ appearance from their books while, characteristics of a character’s mentality help develop a personality for us to relate to. It is important for authors to develop personality so readers can relate or understand the differences from themselves and the characters of their stories. The house on mango street is a book written by Sandra Cisneros which, is about main character Esperanza coming to age. Esperanza speaks frequently about having a house she can be proud to call her own. The house in this story represents both physical and intangible wants and needs of the main character. I cannot compare myself physically due to the difference in sex but, Esperanza and I do have similarities
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.
The House on Mango Street” is a novel that will take you in a journey but not just any journey, a one year journey of a twelve year old Chicana girl (Mexican-American girl) named Esperanza Cordero.The journey of Esperanza begins when she moves in to her new house on Mango Street with her family,going thru puberty,having her first crush,sexual assault,coming of age,maturity and it ends with her becoming more aware of all the things around her.This novel is a great book because in a way you can actually understand what she is going thru as she becomes a teen and is trying to accept who she and trying to find her own path to take.
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed.” (Wiesel 32). Elie Wiesel wrote his memoir Night about his eleven months in a Nazi concentration camp, which he compared to one long night. In the concentration camps he was subjected to physical and mental harm, which no human should ever have to endure. Wiesel’s memoir Night illustrates how his experiences in the Holocaust caused him to lose innocence, develop family bonds, and lose faith in religion.
The House on Mango Street, a fictional book written by Sandra Cisneros is a book filled with many hidden messages. The book revolves around a young girl named Esperanza who feels out of place with the life she has. She sees that the things around her don’t really add up. The story is told from Esperanza’s perspective and the events she goes through to find herself. Through the strategy of fragmenting sentences, Cisneros establishes that the sense of not belonging, creates a person’s individuality that makes them who they are.
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.
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
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.
One recurring theme in the House on Mango Street is independence. In the novel, Esperanza dreams of the day she will leave Mango Street and the oppression from men, to become truly free. However, as she matures, she begins to desire love from men. In the vignette, “Beautiful and Cruel”, Esperanza describes her admiration for the women in the movies who are beautiful, desired my men, yet retain their own power. Sally Rafaela is an important character because she teaches Esperanza that such a dream is an insurmountable challenge. At first glance Sally Rafaela embodies the traits of the movie heroines; she is gorgeous, dresses nicely, and has the attention of the boys, but as we dive deeper into her life, we discover that she is not free. Scared that Sally will run away, her abusive father dominates her life by constant and savage beatings over miniscule issues.
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.