House On Mango Street Similes

Caleb Marchan
Ms. Panasiti
Ela 7
The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age novel written by Sandra Cisneros. Cisneros's unique writing style and diction are enhanced by her use of literary devices. Throughout the novel, Cisneros uses quite a few literary devices, which include simile, personification, and imagery, to emphasize and represent the themes of identity, belonging, and growing up.
One literary device that Cisneros frequently uses in The House on Mango Street are similes. A simile is a comparison of two things using "like" or "as." His hair is like a broom, all up in the air." This simile emphasizes the wild and unruly nature of Esperanza's father's hair For example, when describing her father's hair, Esperanza says, "His hair is like a broom, all up in the air." (Cisneros 4) This simile emphasizes the wild and unruly nature of Esperanza's father's hair which is a representation of his free spirit. Cisneros's use of simile allows the reader to visualize the characters and settings in the novel, making the story more

Personification is the attribution of human qualities to non-human entities. For example, when describing how she views the trees she compares them to herself giving them human-like features showing personification. This is shown in the text when Esperanza states “Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city. From our room we can hear them, but Nenny just sleeps and doesn't appreciate these things. Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep.” This quote shows personification because of how she is able to give the trees human-like qualities that relate to