In the book, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, almost everyone has their own expectations to what they’re supposed to be or that they can’t change who they already are. Esperanza has expectations her whole life about what she is going to turn out to be and what she has to do, but also feels like her life is already determined. Ever since Esperanza was born, people tell her that she was “born on an evil day” (Cisneros 58) and that her mother, Lucy, and Rachel pray for her. If anyone was told that their entire life then it would make them feel down and can make them feel like they are evil. Esperanza feels even more like a bad person when they pretended to be her blind aunt, almost imitating her. “And then she died… And then we began
I believe Esperanza thinks she is an ugly daughter because she is not like she is expected to be, and she does not want to be. Her hair is always messy and she always gets her clothes dirty. A quote from the book goes as follows: "Nenny says she won‘t wait her whole life for a husband to come and get her, that Minerva‘s sister left her mother‘s house by having a baby, but she doesn‘t want to go that way either. She wants things all her own, to pick and choose. Nenny has pretty eyes and it‘s easy to talk that way if you are pretty." I believe this quote supports the idea that Esperanza thinks she is not pretty. I think Esperanza believes that she is taking the most different route to independence, which is acting like a man. She says she leaves
The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a fictional novel set in 1950’s Chicago. Centering around Esperanza’s Mexican American family and their neighbors on Mango Street, the story illustrates Esperanza’s growth and gain of experience. Throughout the story, Esperanza obtains insight on many diverse aspects of life, one being how different she is from the men and even the other women in her culture and society. She recognizes that many of the women in her life are opressed, and identifies that she craves to be different and more independent. Through the use of figurative language, Cisneros asserts that when women allow themselves to be dominated by men, they may be prevented from pursuing their aspirations.
Borders detach us from the outside world; it constricts us with its walls and warps us into bystanders to the events occurring around us. Borders are a central theme in The House on Mango Street as we witness different characters trying to cope with the borders that enclose their daily lives, some attempt to cross it while others are held back by it. A common border which manifests in the stories throughout The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek is the boundary between the two opposing genders: male and female. This border between genders is created because of the expectations and stereotypes that are placed upon them, further contrasting the inherent differences between them and erecting a border that causes friction between the two groups. This border, stemmed from the differences between the two genders, manifests in different forms and are broken by different characters in the stories of The House on Mango Street as well as Woman Hollering Creek.
In an earlier chapter, Esperanza meets with a witch, whom she hopes will tell her future only to be told, “Come back again on a Thursday when the stars are stronger” (72). However, when speaking to The Three Sisters toward the end of the story, they tell her to make a wish and say “You will always be Esperanza. You will always be Mango Street” (113). Rather than seek out her fate, the Fates (three sisters from Greek Mythology) have come seeking Esperanza. It has been confirmed that her wish to leave will come true, but remind her to remember her experiences as they have shaped who she is. In the article, “Interview with Sandra Cisneros”, Cisneros will tell her students to “make a list of the things that make you different from anyone in this room...in your community...your family...your gender (1). Cisneros uses this very idea in her writings of Esperanza: Her individuality is key- Esperanza’s identity as a writer and her background give her a unique voice that will allow her to speak up for those who have no
Sandra Cisneros' strong cultural values greatly influence The House on Mango Street. Esperanza's life is the medium that Cisneros uses to bring the Latin community to her audience. The novel deals with the Catholic Church and its position in the Latin community. The deep family connection within the barrio also plays an important role in the novel. Esperanza's struggle to become a part of the world outside of Mango Street represents the desire many Chicanos have to grow beyond their neighborhoods.
Ezperanza’s strength shows that overcoming obstacles can make people stronger. Likewise, Ezperanza relates to this when she described the four trees as, “their strength is… [that they] grow down, grab the earth... and bite the sky [and] never quit their anger. This is how they keep.” (Cisneros 74) The four skinny trees depict Ezperanza’s attitude by showing how the tree roots stay alive by overpowering the earth and sky and standing until the end. Empowerment helps the trees survive just as Ezperanza did. The House on Mango Street is one of many books that explain how overcoming problems help people survive. Not only that, the moment Ezperanza claimed that Mango Street would not keep her there forever, the fear
This book report is composed for Samuel Jaja for Literature class. This report is based upon the book The House on Mango Street, written by Sandra Cisneros, a Mexican-American author. The book contains a hundred and ten pages and was first published by Arte Público Press in 1984 and then republished by Vintage Contemporaries in 1991. It has been translated into various languages and is taught in schools across the United States. Since its publishment, the book has obtained critical acclaim, winning the American Book Award in 1985 given by the Before Columbus Foundation and selling over 2 million copies ultimately becoming a New York Times Bestseller.
At first, Esperanza is young, insecure, and immature. Her immaturity is apparent when she talks about her mom holding her, saying it is, “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you and you feel safe” (Cisneros 6-7). This shows Esperanza’s insecurity because her mom is still a big comfort source to her. She feels a false sense of comfort because her mom is there and will protect her. In addition, Esperanza’s immaturity is shown through her dislike for outsiders of the neighborhood when she says, “They are stupid people who are lost and got here by mistake” (Cisneros 28). This indicates how defensive and protective Esperanza is towards her barrio by calling outsiders stupid for reacting the way they do, even though she dislikes Mango Street....
Esperanza is a determined character by working hard and dreaming a lot to make it a better situation. (When Esperanza points out that she needs money
Introduction: If esperanza has the choice to be anyone she could have been Lucy or like her grandma the wild horse of a woman, but she turned out great with her own house and no man to control her. In addition, In the chapter The Three Sisters ‘p.103” she has to remember to come back for the others. Also if esperanza leaves the people behind mango can't get any better because no one will help mango change. Next if esperanza did not meet the three old ladies she would have left sooner making bad choices. In addition, I believe esperanza is supposed to help the women from the men abusing them. Last Esperanza really deals with
Throughout The House on Mango Street Esperanza learns to resist the gender norms that are deeply imbedded in her community. The majority of the other female characters in the novel have internalized the male viewpoint and they believe that it is their husbands or fathers responsibility to care for them and make any crucial decisions for them. However, despite the influence of other female characters that are “immasculated”, according to Judith Fetterley, Esperanza’s experiences lead her to become a “resisting reader” in Fettereley’s terminology because she does not want to become like the women that she observes, stuck under a man’s authority. She desires to leave Mango Street and have a “home of her own” so that she will never be forced to depend on a man (Cisneros 108). During the course of the novel Esperanza eventually realizes that it is also her duty to go back to Mango Street “For the ones that cannot out”, or the women who do not challenge the norms (110). Esperanza eventually turns to her writing as a way to escape from her situation without having to marry a man that she would be forced to rely on like some of her friends do.
Esperanza does not want to “inherit her place by the window.” She neither likes what she has already inherited from her grandmother – her name. Esperanza plays with words when she first expresses her dissatisfaction with her name. She says that in Spanish, her name means “too many letters. It means sadness [from the opposite of esperar, which is desesperarse], it means waiting [from the verb esperar].”
“Home is where the heart is.” In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros develops this famous statement to depict what a “home” really represents. What is a home? Is it a house with four walls and a roof, the neighborhood of kids while growing up, or a unique Cleaver household where everything is perfect and no problems arise? According to Cisneros, we all have our own home with which we identify; however, we cannot always go back to the environment we once considered our dwelling place. The home, which is characterized by who we are, and determined by how we view ourselves, is what makes every individual unique. A home is a personality, a depiction of who we are inside and how we grow through our life experiences. In her personal, Cisneros depicts Esperanza Cordero’s coming-of-age through a series of vignettes about her family, neighborhood, and personalized dreams. Although the novel does not follow a traditional chronological pattern, a story emerges, nevertheless, of Esperanza’s search to discover the meaning of her life and her personal identity. The novel begins when the Cordero family moves into a new house, the first they have ever owned, on Mango Street in the Latino section of Chicago. Esperanza is disappointed by the “small and red” house “with tight steps in front and bricks crumbling in places” (5). It is not at all the dream-house her parents had always talked about, nor is it the house on a hill that Esperanza vows to one day own for herself. Despite its location in a rough neighborhood and difficult lifestyle, Mango Street is the place with which she identifies at this time in her life.
Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are not to forget her "reason for being" and "to grow despite the concrete" so as to achieve a freedom that's not separate from togetherness.
Esperanza feels sad because the way she get treated. And esperanza does not know how to solve it.