Esperanza's Observation

Some may argue that her neighborhood is a more important aspect of Esperanza’s identity than her poverty. They may assert that because the people in her neighborhood are the ones she can relate to the most. However, her poverty is what she has to live with and her actions will help her cope with what is to come in the future and the present. From wanting a better house, to striving to become a writer, and looking up to her hard working dad who isn't but different from her. These three reasons are what prove that Esperanza's identity as ambitious is shaped by her

Her development starts to reveal itself in the story when she starts saying “A boy held me once so hard, I swear, I felt the grip and weight of his arms but it was a dream” (75). This quotation reflects her process because at the beginning of the story Esperanza sets out despising boys and now she’s dreaming about holding a boy. This makes the reader believe that Esperanza is starting to become a mature young girl. She’s having delusions about boys. Esperanza is gaining confidence and slowly pushing away her poverty and society, she’s trying to find anything so she can be distracted away from her reality and that gives her an incentive to become a mature young lady. Esperanza is slowly growing up and she feels responsible now for herself and even her family. When she stands up for her sister “That’s right, I add before Lucy of Rachel can make fun of her” (50). This is a conspicuous symbol of her sophistication because she stood up for her sister Nenny. She feels responsible, pledged and she doesn’t want her sister to go the same way she went. Cisneros is trying to emphasis for the readers that Esperanza is struggling for self-definition in every way

In Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, a young, impoverished girl with Hispanic origin, named Esperanza adapts to her new life in Chicago, on Mango Street. Throughout her time living on Mango Street Esperanza observes how other people are living around her, especially women and young girls like her. Esperanza has a variety of female role models in her life. Many are trapped in abusive relationships, waiting for others to change their lives. Some are actively trying to change things on their own. Through these women and Esperanza’s reactions to them, Cisneros’ shows not only the hardships women face, but also explores their lack of power to overcome them.

Imagine losing everything you had, your house, your dad, and all your possessions all of that at the age of 12. Ghastly isn’t it? Well in the story, Esperanza Rising by: Pam Munoz Ryan, Esperanza had to go through all that and shift to America during the Great Depression, and even if you don’t know what that is, you probably know by the looks of it that it is not the most marvelous thing. And you would be right, it’s not. When Esperanza goes to work in America to earn money, there are strikes going on about how people don’t get paid enough for working. Esperanza takes the job because she needs the money to help her mom who is sick and in the hospital and to earn money, so that her grandma can come to America. Esperanza is a brave 12 year-old

In the book The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros demonstrates in her writing how a child can be forced to mature too rapidly. Esperanza encounters sexism, racism, and discrimination towards the poor that impacted her paradigm of the world around her. The motif occurring throughout the novel is how a young girl must become a woman before they are ready. In the chapter “The Monkey Garden”, Esperanza makes one of her final transitions into the woman, her environment forces her to be, this is shown by the change of her opinion of her shoes, the realization of woman accepting manipulation by men, and her loss of childlike interest in the Monkey Garden.

In Mexican American society , women are deemed inferior to men, evident in traditional family roles, the male is the head of the family who provides for the family , while the woman stays at home to look after the children she is expected to provide for her husband . In the third vignette of ‘The House on Mango Street’ titled ‘Boys and Girls’ the reader is informed of the division between men and women when Esperanza refers to herself and her sister Nenny , and her brothers, “They’ve got plenty to say to me and Nenny inside the house. But outside they can’t be seen talking to girls”. The male dominance begins at a very young age.

Esperanza is young, but she already sees what she is meant to be in life. The women that surround her are silent, and many of them cannot leave the house. She watches girls have children and marry just to escape their home because that is the only thing they know in life. Esperanza already knows she wants to be more than what is expected of her as a poor, Latina girl, and will fight the expectations placed on her in the subtlest of ways. “I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one

What is the definition of "coming of age". According to the Oxford dictionary, "coming of age refers to the process of growing up or entering into adulthood". Now the other hand, Why does it happen? and finally, how does it affect ones health or mindset? These questions will all be answered from a specific perspective of a character and the main protagonist, in the book, "House On Mango Street". 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.

The male-dominated society that Esperanza grows up in forces the idea that women are weak and should stay locked in their houses while men go off to work. The men are immoral and seedy, as expressed in the chapter in which a homeless man leers and asks for a kiss from the little girls. Esperanza experiences the evil of her community when she is sexually assaulted, causing her to lose her previous desire to explore her sexuality. Before being assaulted, she wanted to be “beautiful and cruel” like her friend Sally, because Sally was what she understood to be a perfect woman. However, after her rape she decides that she needs to discover her own identity for herself. 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.

Esperanza begins to notice she is being watched by a boy in the neighborhood. This boy, Sire, evokes mixed emotions from Esperanza. Part of Esperanza feels afraid of Sire’s attention. “They didn’t scare me. They did, but I wouldn’t let them know” (72). Esperanza tries to fight this ‘childish’ fear of boys, and she doesn’t cross the street like the other girls. Esperanza attempts to get over her fear, and looks back at him, straight into his eyes. “I had to look back hard, just once, like he was glass. And I did. I did once” (72). She wants to overcome her childish tendencies and transition into womanhood. When Esperanza sees Sire’s girlfriend her interest in Sire and his relationship increases. She even begins to imagine what it would feel like to have a boyfriend. “I want to sit bad at night, a boy around my neck and the wind under my skirt” (73). This represents the arrival of puberty, which is demonstrated by Esperanza’s desire to behave in a grown-up way. Cisneros goes on to describe Esperanza’s hormonal changes when Esperanza says “Everything is holding its breath inside me… waiting to explode like Christmas” (73). Esperanza feels excited for her first romantic encounter with a boy, yet her excitement gets shattered when the encounter occurs. Sally takes Esperanza to the carnival, but Sally leaves with another boy. Some type of sexual encounter takes places, and although we don’t know

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. One of the most important examples of the abuse is in the vignette What Sally Said, “Until the way Sally tells it, he just went crazy, he just forgot he was her father between the buckle and the belt” (93). In his fits of rage it is as if Sally’s dad does not know who she is and continues to blindly hit her until he has calmed down again. With

Esperanza acquires a sense of who she is as a young woman. These characters aid in her decided stance on gender roles and how she wants to evade them as she starts to build her own life. Through Esperanza’s narration, the darkness that correlates with the roles of women is brought into light. The gender roles found in the book are still issues today. Such ideas ruin much of society because people have yet to question and altar them. However, much like Esperanza, in recent years people have offered their own views to the world in hopes that traditional and considerably out-dated women’s roles will change. These individuals hold a key to a better home for themselves and for others far away from Mango

Which character (or characters) do you believe is the greatest influence on Esperanza and her life? How did they influence her? Use evidence from three different vignettes to prove your claims. The characters that I think influenced Esperanza in the book her mom because whenever she had a problem or if something was going on in her life and if she thought something was wrong but people still did it like when tito’s friends took her friends key and said they wouldn’t give it back unless she would give each of them a kiss for them back and she did not think that they should make her do that to get her keys back. Her mom would tell her that she was right and that those boys’ shouldn’t make her do that and she help her write a note so she

Writing sets Esperanza apart from her neighborhood and those in it because she uses it to escape her current situation: a life she would have been trapped in had she not pursued her dreams. By pursuing her dreams and becoming a writer, Esperanza was able to leave Mango Street a place she desired to leave. Through writing, Esperanza has also come to better understand herself. She has to come to terms with the events that have occurred in her life while living on Mango Street, and is now able to reflect on them from a different prospect. Through writing, Esperanza has learned to become a part of the neighborhood she so strongly wanted to get away

Role models are an important aspect in Esperanza’s life. For example, In Esperanza’s life Sally is a negative role model. In order for Sally to have freedom from her apprehensive father; she married a man to escape, who will not let her talk to anyone or look out the window (102). This shows Sally is kept, traditional woman that used her sexuality for freedom, unfortunately failed. Sally is a negative effect on Esperanza because she taught sexuality would bring freedom for her; instead it trapped her in a relationship she cannot escape or be independent. In addition, Alicia is a positive role model. Alicia, “inherited her mama’s rolling pin and sleepiness, is young and smart and studies for the first time at the university. This shows