The House On Mango Street

1297 Words3 Pages

Long has the image of the traditional American family been stamped into our minds. The image of a perfect family has been a staple for popular television shows and commercials hawking everything from luncheon meat to microwaveable TV dinners. It is a far reaching concept known by almost anyone living in the country, all over the world and people considering immigrating to the US. It is a fabricated dream, which does not truly exist. It is merely a false goal, striving to achieve this standard, and the aesthetic of the lifestyle is one which has been heavily marketed and changes frequently with the times. Sports utility vehicles, pristine lawns, massive backyards and home security systems are marketed as necessities for the modern American family. Traditionally, the ideal American family subsists of a working father, a housewife, two or more children, and a pet. The son is in little league or is the captain of the team, the daughter is a beauty queen and the pet is a golden retriever. The house is usually located in a suburb or small town, and has a two car garage. They are generally on good terms with their neighbors. Often the family as a whole encompasses “wholesome American ideals” such as supporting the Republican party, supporting military action, and attending church regularly. Economically, the family is well off and can afford the families needs and much more. The archetypal American family is usually white, and only recently has the presentation expanded to showing multiple ethnicities and economic situations. In reality, American families come from different countries, different economic backgrounds, embrace different ideals concerning government, morality and life. The scope of a real American family is not limited to the experiences of the rich Caucasian family. A set of circumstances contrary to the American dream is that of the family in I Stand Here Ironing. Their situation on many levels is the opposite of the ”ideal” American family. The story is about a young mother who’s husband leaves her, saying he could no longer bear sharing want with them. So initially, she and her daughter are in a bad position. As a single mother during the era of the Depression, work was hard to come by. She often had to leave her young child with neighbors while she was out looking for a job. Her oppor... ... middle of paper ... ...justify, internally the way she thinks about it. On the contrary, the traditional American child has their mind on the material possessions they have, and the material possessions they want. They can rest their worries on staying on top of the latest trends. Chasing the elusive ideals of the ever-changing traditional American family proves to be one that is full of consequences. Trying to meet the basic, essential needs of raising a family are becoming increasingly difficult in these trying times. What we do not need as a nation is the pressure to meet these ideals through consumerism and material gain. Brand name appliances, clothing and cars are not necessities for successfully raising a family. However, the pressure on the people is difficult to escape. TVs are blasting, budgets for advertising and marketing increase. No one is safe from this, every one is divided into a demographic. This culture of consumerism exploits everyone, and funnels money mostly towards the richest of the rich. The gap between the rich and the poor is ever increasing. Life is hard enough as it is, so we must not allow ourselves to be misled on how we should live our lives.

Little Miss Sunshine Stereotypes
172 Words | 1 Pages
The popular concept of the “American dream” is normally portrayed as having economic capital, a convenient house and a “ordinary” family. However, is this fantasy really achievable? Little Miss Sunshine faces and destroys these stereotypes by presenting a dysfunctional American family composed by a workaholic father, an “unusual” type of mother, a drug-addicted grandfather, a suicidal oncle, a depressed son and a little girl who wants to win a beauty pageant despite the fact that she does not resemble a Barbie doll. Each of these characters represent possible cultural agents of society, each of them trying to accomplish their personal “American dream”. Therefore, this paper will analyze different stereotypes in relation with this hegemonic
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901 Words | 2 Pages
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The House on Mango Street
945 Words | 2 Pages
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Cisneros' The House on Mango Street
984 Words | 2 Pages
matter how hard people wish on a star or on a candle, the wishes never seemed to be
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Beauty in The House on Mango Street
927 Words | 2 Pages
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1084 Words | 3 Pages
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The House on Mango Street
1182 Words | 3 Pages
When I grow up, I want to be a black gum tree. Black gum trees are known for their internal strength. Instead of dwelling on outward beauty, they spend more time focusing on their inner growth and developing their core. Only after they have achieved this goal can they produce beautiful fruits that draw animals near to them. Any surfaces that the berries touch are stained as to say, “I was here and made a permanent difference.” After they have utilized their outward influences, they use their internal scars and hollow places to protect the animals surrounding around it. If human lives were to reflect the concepts of the black gum tree, governments, individuals, and communities would be radically transformed. While this is a beautiful image, communities will never fully reach this aspiration. Sandra Cisneros shows the positive and negative effect of community on human growth in The House on Mango Street when Esperanza subconsciously reads the four skinny trees as a stand-in for herself.
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516 Words | 2 Pages
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The House On Mango Street Identity
1445 Words | 3 Pages
Resistance in the Search for a Sense of Individual Identity Creating an identity that is separate from one’s cultural and community background is a difficult task. In Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street, the narrator is a young Latina girl named Esperanza who explores her own individual identity through the pursuit of friendship with another female named Sally, a girl who pushes boundaries by finding comfort in both sexuality and beauty as forms of self-identification. Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy focuses on a teenage girl who moves from the West Indies to North America in an attempt to pursue the supposed endless American opportunities by creating a new understanding of herself through her career as an au pair for a wealthy, white American family. Lucy’s relationship with Mariah, the mother of the family, creates clarity for Lucy in that her reality will never be the same as her employers’ reality due to racial and socioeconomic divides.
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The House On Mango Street
956 Words | 2 Pages
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The American Family By Stephanie Coontz Summary
1511 Words | 4 Pages
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The House on Mango Street
460 Words | 1 Pages
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Durkheim's Theory Of Gender Identity
915 Words | 2 Pages
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885 Words | 2 Pages
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1274 Words | 3 Pages
Family has played an intricate role in the development of the society in which we live. The diversity in which families are formed is now becoming even more diverse with the American culture, which is changing at a rapid pace. Diverse cultures coupled with social economic challenges are key contributors to the dramatic change to the institution of family. With these challenges facing the institution of family, this closely tightknit unit which has been the cornerstone of American society has diminishing from a traditional standpoint. Non-kinship family networks like the one described in Karen V. Hansen’s “The Cranes, An Absorbent Safety Net,” goes against the norm of the common institution of family within America. Although the Crane family
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