English First Semester Final Essay To many readers, the most enjoyable stories are the ones that take place without sorrow, and betrayal. While these are both tragic topics, some pieces of literature are fantastic, while still broaching topics that may be harmful to the characters themselves. In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, and the novella The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, all contain examples of the these specific topics. These pieces of literature all share common themes of family, magic, and betrayal. A common theme in the stories is, when people are not in control of situations and things that happen in their lives, they can react in ways not typical of their character, and this can cause them to make bad decisions. Furthermore, in Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya the main character Antonio has faith that Andrew will remedy the situation, and assist them, but instead Andrew betrays him when he sees Andrew at Rosie’s place and Andrew …show more content…
This situation showed her inability to react normally in a tough situation. This showed how Esperanza acted differently during a time in which she could not change the situation. Furthermore, in The House on Mango Street, an example of the theme is exhibiting when Esperanza had to help her friend by the name of Sally. During this time in which Esperanza acted rash when she thought something bad would happen to Sally unless she helped her. Sally is at the fair. Sally and Esperanza go to the fair alone, and Esperanza is raped by the red clowns. Sally acts in a way different to her character when faced with a tough decision of choosing between Esperanza or not. In the novella of The House on Mango Street, there were examples of Esperanza, when faced with hardship acting out of
With this insertion of imagery, it is clear that Esperanza craves a free-spirited life, but she finds herself bout to the shackles that Mango Street brings to her life. Esperanza comparing herself to a balloon indicates how she is metaphorically filled with air,
She however is very reactive to this situation, she doesn’t tell anybody what happened, she steals late passes, hides in an abandoned janitor closet, and eventually ditches school. That example shows how irresponsible she is. House On Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, is about a young girl who moves into a new house with her family in Chicago Illinois in the early 1980’s. Esperanza is not a very happy person, especially after the year she had at the house on Mango Street.
Since the beginning of literature, authors have discussed many themes and life truths through their writing, and though they may be separated by centuries of cultural evolution, many of the characters created by these authors share a common theme. Likewise, the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the novella The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and the play A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare are very different stories, yet they also share a common theme. The three of the texts share the common theme of “When people ambitiously pursue their goals, they can be blinded from seeing the reality around them and make illogical decisions.” In the novel Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, the main character, Antonio, cannot
In The House On Mango Street, gender roles have a big impact on Esperanza's life. Gender roles do not only affect her life, they affect many other women and young girls in the book. This is because they abuse them and to keep ‘locked up’ because they are insecure. Sally is an example of being abused by a man. On page 92 it talks about Sally being abused by her father and her trying to cover it up.
Esperanza’s Perspective “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros, is Esperanza’s story that is told in first person by Esperanza herself. Sandra Cisneros uses only one or two pages for each chapter and along the way we learn more about her family, friends, neighborhood and Esperanza herself. In some scenes she uses humor and other scenes sadness, these scenes are in introspection form.
In the chapter “Red Clowns”, Esperanza experiences her first sexual encounter, although it was not what she thought it would be. She finds herself being sexually assaulted. Forcibly introduced into the adult world, Esperanza learn that fantasies are not always what they are said to be. Esperanza states, “They all lied. All the books and magazine, everything that told it wrong.
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.
The characters in the play Othello by William Shakespeare and the short story “The Storm” by Kate Chopin, refuse to take blame for their unfaithful actions by blaming external forces. Although, the main characters, Othello and Calixta, are fairly powerful characters, they seek comfort in knowing their actions were determined for them. In the short story “The Storm” the main characters Calixta and Alcee try to make their adultery seem amoral by accusing the inevitably of their fate. Their sexual intercourse happens due to the violent storm that keeps Calixta’s husband and son captive in a small market.
As a child, Esperanza wants only escape from mango Street. Her dream of independents and "self-definition" also means leaving her family behind without any responsibilities to her family. Throughout the book, her has also faced some situation where is feels ashamed to be part of the Mango Street community and in some instances refuses to admit she has anything to do with mango street. At the beginning of the book near the earlier chapters, Esperanza feels very insecure about herself in general along with the house that she lives in. As mentioned before, she doesn’t want to discuss her name nor where she lives.
Many people are undermined by the drawbacks of belonging to a low socioeconomic status. In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is raised in a poor, Latino community, causing her to be introduced to poverty at an early age. This introduction of poverty affects Esperanza in many ways, one including that she is unable to find success. Esperanza struggles to achieve success in life because the cycle of poverty restricts her in a position in which she cannot break free from her socioeconomic status.
Lead In: A child will usually grow up hidden away from adult problems, and then learn the way of the world as he or she get older. However, in the novel Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio Marez, a child who has grown up with the weight of the world on his shoulders, while striving to fulfil his parents’ expectations and also struggling with the loss of many people around him, has learned to mature faster to deal with the problems he has endured in a short life time. For Antonio, his development begins not with his birth or with his first days of school, but with the arrival of Ultima, the curandera who moves in with his family because of old age. It is with Ultima’s arrival that Antonio is first exposed to the magic of the world and
Esperanza and her family are always moving because they do not have much money, but they finally moved into a house on Mango Street where they “Don’t have to pay rent to anybody, or share the yard with the people downstairs, or be careful not to make too much noise” (703). Although it sounded like a nice place, when a nun from her school saw where Esperanza lived, she said, “You live there?” (703). That made Esperanza feel like nothing and made her realize she needs a real house, one that is really nice. Esperanza wants to change her life and make the best of what she has.
Bless Me, Ultima is filled with Antonio's dreams. In these sequences a lot of the boy's fears and perceptions about religion and his family are vividly portrayed. These dream sequences are imaginative and beautifully written. They add a great deal to the novel. They allow the reader of Bless Me, Ultima inside the mind of this little boy, we can now see what he is dealing with.
Esperanza shifts from a follower into a confused individual, allowing her to begin her life as a woman outside of the oppressive nature of Mango Street. The suffocating stereotypes and sad, gloomy traits of the culture surrounding Esperanza contribute to the cultivation of her strong will and ardor. Mango Street opens her eyes to the abusive nature of her environment, and aids her in breaking the chain of corruption by defining and terminating the situation for herself. The neighborhood itself allows Esperanza to
In the book, The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is portrayed as a young innocent girl that drastically changes over the course of the book. Esperanza is new to mango street and encounters many challenges but also positive experiences that she is able to take away from mango street. In order for Esperanza to transform as a human it was inevitable for her to face the struggles on mango street. As Esperanza matures throughout the novel she experiences three major developments that shape her future through the awakening of maturity, responsibility and her awakening of her interest in poetry.