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Historical fiction analysis
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My book report was on “Esperanza Rising” by Pam Muñoz Ryan. The genre of this book is Historical Fiction. The publisher is Scholastic. It has a total of 253 pages plus the author’s notes. Esperanza Rising was published in the year of 2000. Some unusual facts about this book was that it had some Spanish words in it but English after so you know what it means. This book is a Pure Belpre Award winning book. The Pure Belpre Award means excellent portrayal of Latino experience in children's literature. I chose this book to read because the author seemed familiar and the cover of the book really caught my attention including the title.
The novel starts out with the main character and protagonist, Esperanza, the spoiled six-year old little girl living the fairytale life. The other main characters are Mama, Abuelita and Miguel. She lives with her mama, grandmother and their servants with her papa owning his ranch in Aguascalientes, Mexico which is the setting in the beginning, than it takes place in California. In the book, her nickname is Ranza. She likes nice dresses, dolls, and fruits. In her family, when the grape harvest every year, they have a big party for her. As the story continues in the next few chapters, Esperanza’s life completely flips. A lot happens and gets worse for her and her family. It was still during the 1930s, the ending the Mexican Revolution where there was still a lot of resentment against the wealthy landowners in Mexico. The third person tells the story which is the narrator, who has access to Esperanza’s thoughts. The tone of this book would most definitely be both a creepy tale of suspense and a lighthearted adventure to me because Esperanza’s family go through sneaking away trying to not get caught which i...
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...ugh it was kind of based on the author’s grandmother. Its weaknesses was definitely the Spanish words cause I couldn’t pronounce it. The book did indeed hold my interest because it was really inspirational. Esperanza goes through so much for her family and overcomes difficult times on being a stronger person. I learned that in life, when you want something to happen, you should always be patient. Never be impatient. The book affected me because today immigration wasn’t always a big issue like it was back than. We learn that its not easy to leave your home and go somewhere new and start fresh. There’s never an easy solution. Lastly, I would certainly recommend this book to others because it’s a lesson story of how hard you have to work. Also it’s based of the author’s grandmother Esperanza Ortega, the hero in the book as it says in back of the book in author’s notes.
Meaning, this book would be perfect to teach students life lessons that are important. Three of the themes that are good life lessons are: family, perseverance and survival, and humanization and dehumanization. All of these are found throughout the whole book which makes them hard to forget. Family is shown throughout the book because when Enrique’s mom leaves, all Enrique wants to do is to be with her. A short summary from Litcharts.com explains why family is such a big theme throughout the whole book. “Enrique’s Journey, as its title indicates, is the non-fiction story of a 17-year-old boy’s struggle to travel across Mexico to the United States to reunite with his mother. The events depicted in the book are set in motion by an initial instance of abandonment: Lourdes’ difficult decision to leave Enrique and his sister Belky in Honduras, while she seeks work in the United States to send money back to her family.” This whole quote shows, even though it was a hard choice for Lourdes, it was the right one because it was to help her family. Another theme that was found in the book that is a good lesson is about perseverance and survival. Survival is a trait everyone has, but this book highlights its importance, especially on the trains. Litcharts.com says, “He gives himself a time limit that shows his perseverance and the gravity of his decision: he will make it to his mother even if it takes a year. Despite the dangerous circumstances jumping trains, facing corrupt policemen, immigration checkpoints and officers, bandits, and gangsters, Enrique persists.” This teaches the readers that it is important to push through every difficulty no matter what, and that it is highly significant to survive to achieve the goal. The last theme that is found in Enrique’s Journey that is a good lesson for readers is dehumanization and humanization. This theme is found
The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly captures a Mexico in its true light.
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.
This book is so great at that because instead of just giving examples about how farmers would bring an immigration agent to their farm just so they wouldn’t have to pay workers, it actually gives you the details about how it was done. (Garcia, kindle) This book helps the reader understand how frightened this mother was when she thought her husband would not be coming home that day. The book gives you a front row view of the narrator learning that any day a parent may be gone anywhere form several days to several months because of their citizenship status. This book puts you in the narrator’s
Esperanza tries to be a good friend to Sally, but ends up appearing immature and silly. Esperanza feels shame, as she “wanted to be dead”, to “turn into the rain”, and have “my eyes melt into the ground like black snails” (Cisneros 97). With sensory-rich imagery, the author uses similes and metaphors to describe Esperanza’s feelings of utter mortification as she embarrasses herself in front of Sally. Esperanza becomes confused about her newfound sexuality and her loss of innocence when she begins acting strangely, yet awkwardly around boys. She doesn’t know whether to act like a child or an adult because although she wants to be mature and glamorous like Sally, and she gets exposed to the harsh nature of society. The disillusioned view of becoming mature and having boys notice her is especially realized by Esperanza when she gets raped at a carnival. Through detailed imagery, Cisneros describes the dirtiness of the boy, elaborating on “his dirty fingernails against my skin” and “his sour smell again” (Cisneros 100) and the confusion and anger from Esperanza. After this experience, Esperanza blames Sally instead for covering up the truth about boys and is heartbroken about the real truth of sexuality and men. It is clear that Esperanza vividly remembers this awful experience, and just reflecting on this experience causes her thoughts to
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.
This book is a story about 4 sisters who tell their stories about living on an island in the Dominican Republic , and then moving to New York . What is different about this book is the fact that you have different narrators telling you the story , jumping back and forth from past to present . This is effective because it gives you different view point’s from each of the sisters . It may also detract from the narrative because of the fact that it’s confusing to the reader . This is a style of writing that has been recognized and analyzed by critics . Julia Alvarez is a well- known writer and in a way , mirrors events that happened in her own life , in her book . Looking into her life , it show’s that she went through an experience somewhat like the sisters . I interviewed an immigrant , not from the same ethnic back ground as the sisters , but a Japanese immigrant . This was a very
She wanted to give a little sense to the audience on how her life was growing up. Aspired to her life Cisneros writes about conflicts dealing with feeling alone, disgraced, poverty and cultural reliability. As similar to Esperanza the character in “The House on Mango Street”, she would describe her penniless young child, who yearns for security in the house. Making a connection to the book moving for Cisneros was as a nauseated and unpleasant occurrence. Cisneros stated that relocating into neighborhood as in” France after the World War 2”. Meaning that the building was collapsing and the place were dead. In addition, Esperanza had no voice when it comes to authority meaning that she is pressure of being married than having an education. This shows a connection because her father wanted her to go to college just for finding a husband. She stated, “All that college wasted, and still no husband” she had realized that she has been disgracing her father’s approval in chasing her dreams than chasing a man. Prior to her life experiences the novel, the characters were a variety of people who she had encounters at different times in her
This book by Julia Alvarez takes place in the Dominican Republic during the time of Trujillo, the dictator of the country. The readers are introduced to a family of four sisters and their parents and are able to read about their experiences throughout their lives and how their oppressive government affected them. The four sisters names are Patria, Dede, Minerva, and Maria Teresa. As the reader progresses into the book, these names start to form characters and personalities that, quite frankly, are shaped in retaliation to the government. In the postscript, Alvarez explains that these girls were real along with the events that happened between 1930 and 1961. These personalities were merely an imaginative work of Alvarez in order to make a story
It is influenced by her grandmother, Esperanza Ortega’s life story and her experience from when she fled from Mexico to California. While it may be a fictional story, it is personally inspired by a close family member who lived through similar challenges. In addition, I appreciate how the author has done extensive historically based social research to allow the story to be as authentic as possible. Moreover, I chose this novel because it takes place during the Great Depression period focusing on the agricultural labor camps. I have no previous knowledge specifically in this area, and would like to learn and understand how this certain place and era affected people’s lives, society, environment, and
While there are many themes that can be found in this novella, Benitez skillfully uses the Mexican culture and the beliefs to improve her story, giving it understanding beyond the traditional American thoughts that many foreign writers are unable to achieve.
Evaluation: I thought the book was very exciting and suspenseful like her other books. The book had very good detail and an interesting plot. I liked the twist when Juan and the girl’s father came upon Glenn walking down the road. I also liked how the author described the action in great detail. It made me feel like I was right there seeing it all happen firsthand. I don’t think that the author could’ve made this book any better than she did already.
Bad things can happen to good people and your life can get better are some of the greatest themes of Esperanza Rising. For example, in the last sentence of the novel, Esperanza tells Isabel, ”Do not ever be afraid to start over.”(253) This quote was almost the same statement Abuelita told Esperanza while crocheting a blanket, but Esperanza never thought she would turn back to it, until Papa died and sure enough, Esperanza didn’t want to start over. She held on to everything from her magnificent, princess-like life, especially her doll. She didn’t know her life would never be the same again, but after living in California for a while, she looked back at what Abuelita told her and learned to let go of her past, even giving her favorite, special doll from Papa, to Isabel. Papa’s death broke Esperanza to pieces, but when she moved to California she took a turn for the better because she learned a lot of everyday skills, such as sweeping, cleaning clothes, and how to work which benefitted her and she embraced her life and enjoyed everyday.
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.
Each part contains short stories within them. These all consist of a heartwarming girl, Esperanza,who matures into a woman and how she faces these gender roles through love and violence. Cisneros alters the name Esperanza with Chayo, Rachel, Lupe, Ines, and Clemenica, to explain differences between them along with to give the story more lewd effectiveness. Sandra Cisnero's main focus throughout the novel was identity. Cisneros starts off in the first section (“My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn), narrating as a young child and further matures into the final section (There was a Man, There was a Woman)....