Teenagers often find themselves lost in a confusing world without something to guide them. The novella, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros tells the story of Esperanza and her path to finding out who she is. Broken up into vignettes, Cisneros writes about different parts of Esperanza’s childhood on Mango Street. Some explain her family, her neighborhood, and other key parts of her life. Esperanza talks about the places she once lived and her yearn for a real house. She also describes her family’s personalities through their hair. Esperanza’s negative view of herself slowly changes as she begins to focus on her larger community and her place within it. Through this, Cisneros shows that knowing and accepting where one comes from is …show more content…
In the vignette, “There was an old woman …,” Rosa Vargas is one of Esperanza’s neighbors who has a lot of kids and her husband left her without money. “...and who cries every day for the man who left without even leaving a dollar for bologna or a note…”(Cisneros 29). Esperanza starts thinking about the other people in her community and realizes they are all in similar situations. When living in Chicago, it is hard for these families to find work because of their ethnicity. Many of these women, just like Rosa, are forced into marriages so they can be supported. Marriages fall apart when the short-lived passion dies out and it was not for love. Some people are left stranded with no money and end up like Esperanza’s neighbors. Esperanza develops compassion within her for these people when she focuses on everyone’s …show more content…
She meets three older women that ask her to make a wish and tell her to come back to Mango Street after she moves away. “You will always be Mango Street”(Cisneros 105). Mango Street is the most important place Esperanza will ever live. She has learned so much from it and learned to accept herself. No matter how hard she tries to forget it, Esperanza will always remember the place that opened her eyes to the world and her identity. She has become a kind, strong-willed girl who cares for her family and others around her. When the sisters said Esperanza has to come back to Mango Street and get the ones who cannot leave, they implied that she is a very caring person and will help the people who helped
Esperanza think negative about herself a lot, first she talks about the house on mango street ,“ A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it.” (Cisneros 5).
The House on Mango Street is a novel about a Latina girl becoming of age in the streets of Chicago. Her family is very poor, and throughout the entire book she transforms from a little girl to a young lady. In the book, the main characters are Esperanza, Nenny, Mama, Papa. Sally, Lucy, and Rachel. Esperanza and her family moves a lot, but the little red house on Mango Street helped her become the person she is.
The reaction to this small house affects her to dream of living in a house of her own (Cisneros 4). Esperanza isn’t all that wealthy; this is evident when they can’t afford lunch meats so she makes a rice Maggard 3 sandwich (Cisneros 44). Overall Esperanza learns to cope with her living situation just talking to people and she also works really hard in school and at home and eventually moves away. These three characters have proved to all be very unique and different.
“The House on Mango Street” is a book full of different vignettes which are written by Sandra Cisneros. “The House on Mango Street” is a coming-of-age-story about a young girl named Esperanza Cordero. Throughout these vignettes we see how Esperanza grows artistically, sexually, and emotionally. While exploring her own world she experiences the shame of being poor, racism, and the beauty of writing/poetry. In “The House on Mango Street” freedom is not what you think it is.
The House on Mango Street is a novel by Sandra Cisneros that touches on subjects that the Latin community in America commonly faces. The story is told through short vignettes about the life of a young Mexican-American girl in a poor Chicago neighborhood during the 1960s. Despite themes of poverty and discrimination, The House on Mango Street shows that determination and resilience can lift people out of poverty. Cisneros describes the circumstances in which Esperanza's family lives and shows how people in Esperanza's situation may feel about it. At the beginning of the book, Esperanza is ashamed of her house.
Knowing that the they are going to keep getting abused repeatedly. Esperanza says “ She is in love, but I think she did it to escape” page 101. Living during that time while being a female was hard. Men did not treat with respect. In the novel Esperanza explains how Sally says that she “Enjoys her life” page 104.
These lessons allow the children to fathom about the concepts of morals throughout the book. Comparatively, Alicia from The House on Mango Street is considered one of the most influential people in Esperanza’s life. Most of Esperanza’s friends such Sally and Marin, want to marry someone to have a better living for the rest of their lives. The presence of Alicia, a smart and hardworking first year university student who wants to attain a better life with her own hands without relying on anyone else, really inspires Esperanza to be an independent woman. “One day i will pack my bags of books and paper.
However, Esperanza’s negative view of herself slowly changes as she begins to focus on her larger community and her place within it. Through this, Cisneros shows that knowing and accepting where we have come from is an important part of growing up and determining who we are. In the beginning of
“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
Imagine growing up in a neighborhood that tries day after day to tear you down. Imagine growing up in a world without role models to help guide you down the right path. Imagine growing up in a place where you saw your friends fall into a cycle of abuse. Imagine being the only one strong enough not to fall into the ways of the world around you. Wouldn’t that make you tougher in the long run?
Each vignette in the novel shows how Esperanza craves to leave the shame, embarrassment, and poverty of her youth. Cisneros’ nod to recognizing that her past will always be a part of who she is becomes apparent in Esperanza’s desires to escape her childhood, she promises that when she owns her dream home, she will allow the bums to sleep in the attic. By having a house of her own, Esperanza feels she can be free, independent, and be herself; this dream of Esperanza’s house fills her with hope for her
Esperanza’s interest is writing poem, appears in many of the chapters where it explains a way of bonding with her community by sharing poems with one another. Because Esperanza has become a writer her observations strengthen throughout the novel. One example of how she matures through writing is in the beginning of the book she told stories that were obviously meant for a younger audiences but through the middle of the book she started to use more observation based upon what she saw which helped develop the story more for the reader. This change shows that she is becoming an artist, and also that she is starting to distance herself from her community, since she focuses more on capturing experiences than living through them, she starts to further her self from interaction and focuses more on observation of the people around her. By the end of The House on Mango Street, she knows that she underwent a huge transformation and her relationship with mango st is starting to weaken.
There was a man who felt the pain of isolation because he was very opinionated. The majority of the people in his world do not agree with him, making him feel alone and want to escape. Sandra Cisneros’ House On Mango Street, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, all share the unexpected benefit of isolation which leads each character to the discovery of the need for change within themselves or within their societies. Sandra Cisneros’ The House On Mango Street, shows a want for change through Esperanza’s unfortunate upbringing. Esperanza feels isolated because she doesn’t have friends and she does not have anything in common with her family.
She constantly searches for her own identity when she doesn’t even realize, what she does now will become a new version of herself in the future. This is where the use of Poetry comes into play. She observes the world and describes it in a different perspective. One where she can find no negativity in calling it a safe haven. Esperanza despised living on Mango Street, but little by little she discovers fragments of herself wanting to become a better person.