The Effects of Belonging to Certain Areas in Cisneros Literature
Belonging: “(of a person) fit in a specified place or environment” (www.Dictionary.com 1). Generally, every person goes through a phase of figuring out who they are and where they belong. Using her poetic and relatable writing, Cisneros vividly illustrated what it’s like to question your sense of belonging through Esperanza in the House on Mango Street and Chayo in the Woman Hollering Creek. Both of the characters crave to fit in and find their place in life. The vignette “Those who don’t” relates to the short story, “Bread” in the Woman Hollering Creek because they both emphasize the effects of belonging to Chicana areas.
“Those who don’t” discusses the outcome of living in
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Where you grow up determines how you are shaped as a person. Specifically, the people around you mold you into who you are, and for Esperanza/Chayo, it was the Chicano/a community. Since Esperanza had grown up in an underprivileged neighborhood, it usually was not what she desired. She expected that anywhere else would be better- it would fit her description of home. Similarly, Chayo had the same perceptions about where she lived too. Chayo looked at where she lived through the lens of her past experiences, which was revealed as to have been not as she longed for. We could see from “Bread” that she didn’t have very good memories of a place that the Italian man loves, causing her to dislike her community. On the contrary, these two particular parts of the novels differ because Esperanza expresses some pride for where she lives and feels safe in the House on Mango Street. “But we aren’t afraid. We know the guy with crooked he is Davey the Baby’s brother, and the tall one next to him in the straw brim, that’s Rosa Eddie V., and the big one that looks like a dumb grown man, he’s Fat Boy, though he’s not fat nor a boy anymore” (Cisneros1 28). The people Esperanza describe seem intimidating and most anyone would be frightened by people like these. However, Esperanza knows the people not for their daunting looks, but for their …show more content…
Both of Cisneros main speakers don’t know where they fit in. Esperanza has lived in the Chicano/a community her whole life and knows it’s safe, but wonders about the other races and ethnicities. Chayo recalls bad memories from her childhood, so she isn’t a big part of the Chicano/a community anymore. This being said, Chayo doesn’t know what community she is a part of. However, Esperanza does show some happiness for where she lives, unlike Chayo who doesn’t express any happiness whatsoever. Evidently, the vignette “Those who don’t” from the House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek are character defining moments for Esperanza and Chayo and they compare and contrast the theme of
“… I was scared to eat alone in the company lunchroom with all these men and ladies looking, so I ate real fast in one of the washroom stalls” (54). In the vignette “Boys & Girls” Esperanza explains some of the desolation she
The vignette “Those who don’t” relates to the short story, “Bread” in the Woman Hollering Creek because they both emphasize the effects of belonging to certain places. “Those who don’t” discusses the outcome of living in the house on Mango Street. Esperanza’s neighborhood mainly consists of Mexican/American residents. Many of the people in her community, including Esperanza’s father, moved from Mexico to America and left everything behind. Since these people left all of their valuables behind, they weren’t as financially well off.
Esperanza clinging onto her dream house indicates that she doesn’t want to belong on Mango Street. She also uses repetition to emphasize a few phrases. Furthermore, Esperanza finds freedom and identity through pursuing her writing. On page 61, it was mentioned that Aunt Lupe told her, “You just remember to keep writing, Esperanza.
As she transitions into womanhood, Esperanza gains a new understanding of weighty concepts such as gender roles. On Mango Street, she is exposed to a variety of females who fill the role model and non-role model categories. Specifically, Esperanza’s observations of the characters, Marin, Sally, and Alicia, reveal the oppressive or often dangerous roles placed on women and how they ultimately influence the development of her identity. Like many of the women trapped on Mango Street because of negative societal roles, Esperanza’s
These problems coming to light through the many women Esperanza looks up to, drive her to rise above her obstacles, and become more than just another poorly treated woman. Despite the variety of girls in the neighborhood, one of Esperanza’s closest friends ends up being Sally, who has moved from one abusive home to the next. Sally’s father was a very strict man and she constantly disobeyed him once out of his sight. Whenever Sally is caught dressing “provocative” or acting “too old” her father decides to teach her a lesson.
1. I think they find it necessary to move so often because it has been a dream for the family of six to have a piece of property like the houses shown on TV. The story begins when the family buys a new house on Mango Street. This new house is the first the family has owned and does not fulfill their dream. The house is simply not big enough for the family.
Not once, or twice, or ever again.” (Cisneros 105). One of the reasons for this is her meeting the three old ladies who came for Rachel’s sister’s funeral. There prophesy that Esperanza will leave Mango Street boosts her self-confidence. The narrator also says, “Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to.”
The main protagonist Esperanza, matures from a childish girl to a young confident woman through many critical and life changing events in the story. Ultimately, the author, Sandra Cisneros implements the symbols of confidence, the house on mango street and the metaphor of shoes to show how Esperanza develops into a more mature state. Sandra Cisneros
“In the meantime they’ll just have to move a little farther north from Mango Street, a little farther away every time people like us keep moving in (Cisneros 13).” This quote is a significant part of the story because it shows how Esperanza truly feels about herself and her family. She thinks that because she is poor and lives and a bad neighborhood people move away from her family. Esperanza doesn’t think very much of her or her family at all. She thinks that it is because of their race that people do not want to be near them.
Esperanza is often humiliated not only by where she lives, but also by her physical appearance, hence causing a restriction in her climb to a higher social class. Esperanza is frequently ashamed of her family’s broken-down house in an urban, poor
The House on Mango Street, is a series of vignettes about a girl named Esperanza who is around the age of twelve at the beginning of the book it goes through Esperanza’s struggles with her identity, as she grows older and matures the struggles are focused on finding a connection with someone, and close to the end of the book Esperanza struggles with the idea of staying on Mango Street and live a life like other people in the community. Maturing into an adulthood, Esperanza accepts herself and has her own house just like how she wanted throughout the book. In the book she also talks about the house she lives in, her name, heritage, even detailed information about the neighborhood she lives in and the residents in the neighborhood. You learn and read how much Esperanza observed her community and how important to her the house she lived in and reaching the goal of living in a house on her own. Through my creative piece I wanted to emulate the figurative language Cisneros uses and also tries to write about a well-observed community that is out of the box.
(Wissman) Throughout the novella, Esperanza fights against a society filled with toxic masculinity and women that find their worth through men, for self-awareness, and eventually finds it through the lessons she learns from these situations and people. As the Explorer, she used the characters that fulfilled other archetypes to build herself into a strong-willed young lady. Though the archetypes Cisneros used in The House on Mango Street, specifically in the female characters, Esperanza learns valuable lessons that construct a newly liberated woman.
The House on Mango Street is set in a poor, primarily Hispanic neighborhood. Author Sandra Cisneros creates an atypical, yet easily digestible world for the reader to experience while learning about Esperanza’s childhood. The culture of her environment influences Esperanza’s development as she becomes a young woman, and contributes to the book’s driving theme of self-empowerment. Mango Street is the source of Esperanza’s growth through her childhood, and it hides sadness and longing underneath stereotypes of Hispanic people. The characters that live in the broken-down neighborhood all seem to represent pigeonholed views of Latino individuals.
Have you ever had to eat a rice sandwich? If so, you might identify with a certain little girl named Esperanza. Esperanza Cordero is the main character of the book The House on Mango Street. Esperanza exhibits many strong character traits. Esperanza is a very timid, or shy girl.
Esperanza’s house on Mango Street is not the house she dreamed on when she lived on Loomis Street, not the kind of house her parent’s talked about, not the house she wanted. Her house on Mango Street is a small, red house with even smaller stairs leading to the door. The brick are falling out of place and to get inside, one must shove the door, swollen like Esperanza’s feet in later vignettes, open. Once inside, where you are never very far from someone else, there are small hallway stairs that lead to the only one shared bedroom and bathroom. This house is just, “For the time being,”[5] Esperanza claims, for this is nothing like the house she longs for.