Childhood Innocence and Lessons in 'The House on Mango Street'

793 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Character traits for the house on mango street

While reading the book The House On Mango Street, the author Sandra Cisneros shows a lot of different aspects of how life is during childhood. I found it very functional on why Cisneros did that. She wanted to show us the different life styles parent’s have on raising their children. Reading The House On Mango Street teaches you a great amount of things. Cisneros showed the innocence of childhood, but she also showed the sinful ways of childhood. Cisneros showed how the children were naive in the chapter “Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin” when Louie’s cousin steals a car and has the kids take a little drive with him. “They put handcuffs on him and put him the backseat of the cop car, and we all waved as they drove away” (Cisneros 25). That’s the beauty of childhood. It hides all the bad in the world. A child never thinks for a second if there is bad people in the world. As a kid, there comes the innocence, then it’s the foolish mistakes we make, but fail to learn from. There comes a great deal of foolishness during our young ages. It’s what makes childhood interesting. Our childhood is what we are made of. It’s what defines us. The House On Mango Street opens your eyes to how childhood really is. Cisneros has a very unique way of opening up our eyes. She’s secretive about it. While reading, you do not even know that you’re understanding. You just keep reading because the book is that good. You wanna know what happens to Esperanza and Nenny. You need to know if Esperanza ever goes back to Mango Street or not. In the beginning of the book, Esperanza hates living in the house on Mango Street. We see it on page five. “The house on Mango Street isn’t it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary, says Papa. But I know how those things go” (Cisneros 5). Throughout the book, we see how Esperanza feels about living in that house. She’s always felt like she’s

Show More
Related

  • Examples Of Figurative Language In The House On Mango Street

    451 Words  | 1 Pages

    The House on Mango Street is a novel by Sandra Cisneros. It is set in a poor, Latino neighborhood around 1960. The main character, Esperanza, is expected to get married in order to support herself. However, Esperanza strives for independence, and seeks to end the cycle of abusive patriarchy that holds Mango Street in thrall. Through the use of syntax and figurative language, Cisneros establishes that a sense of not belonging can fuel an individual’s desire for a better future.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of The House On Mango Street By Sandra Cisneros

    1475 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, each work is special and focuses on a different aspect of life as compared to the other. In addition, the thematic ideas between the two works are often correlated and often overlap between the two. Moreover, the multiple thematic ideas in the novel and the movie can still apply to the people of today as they also go through many hard times much like Celie and Esperanza. The House on Mango Street is able to focus on abuse of women, and discrimination of the female gender much like The Color Purple. However, The House on Mango Street is able to elaborate on the topic of maturity especially through the various experiences of Esperanza. Nevertheless, many important lessons can be learned from both the novel and the movie, among these include treatment of women, discrimination, and maturity. The novel and the movie do a wonderful job at emphasizing and focusing on these relatable topics that are vital to the growth of

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Characteristics In The House On Mango Street?

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Characteristics are what define us as human beings. When comparing and contrasting one person to another, characteristics is used to do so. Characteristics such as physical appearance or emotional perceptions help define how a person is perceived, and how we do, or do not compare in such ways. Authors use descriptions of physical characteristics to help us paint a picture in our mind of characters’ appearance from their books while, characteristics of a character’s mentality help develop a personality for us to relate to. It is important for authors to develop personality so readers can relate or understand the differences from themselves and the characters of their stories. The house on mango street is a book written by Sandra Cisneros which, is about main character Esperanza coming to age. Esperanza speaks frequently about having a house she can be proud to call her own. The house in this story represents both physical and intangible wants and needs of the main character. I cannot compare myself physically due to the difference in sex but, Esperanza and I do have similarities

    Read More

  • Sandra Cisneros: A Self-Reliant Hispanic Literary Voice

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sandra Cisneros born on December 20, 1954 grew up in Chicago settling with a neighborhood known with Hispanic immigrants. Until then her migrating with her six brothers, from different communities in Chicago, and visiting her grandmother in Mexico, she has never really make ones home in. Being the only girl with no sisters, Cisneros only way that would deprive her from loneliness, is by reading books where she found her talents in writing. Fast forwarding to college Sandra Cisneros worked on her master’s degree at University of Iowa Writers Workshop where found her interest as Mexican-American woman with a self-reliant passion and how being a Hispanic were different in the American culture.

    Read More

  • DCF Valuation'

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Esperanza's family has been moving a lot throughout her whole life. Her family consists of six; which is her Mama, Papa, Carlos, KiKi, Nenny and herself. The house on Mango Street is their new home, which is the first house they owned and didn't have to pay rent. The house had a yard they did not have to share, no landlord and no worries of the being too loud. It was a big improvement from the apartment they just moved out of, but it wasn't the dream house they had always talked about getting one day. Esperanza's parents always talked about a house they would have one day that would be all their own. The house on Mango Street was not that, it was small and rundown. Esperanza dreams of a day when she will leave this house to live in her own.

    Read More

  • Reflection Of The Movie Babies

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    The director of this film shows how the babies develop from infancy to toddlerhood at different developmental stages. As you watch the film, you see the babies develop physically, socially and cognitively. Culture and socioeconomic status provided these families with the

    Read More

  • The House on Mango Street

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    There was another time when Esperanza wanted to eat lunch in the canteen at school. She was not allowed to eat at school, because she lived close enough to walk home for lunch. But, Esperanza wanted to feel special like the other kids, so she convinced her mother to write a note to the nun in charge giving her permission to eat in the school canteen. The mother wrote the note, but the nun was not convinced. So, she made Esperanza go to the window and point to her house. She was too ashamed to point to the old-run-down home where she lived. This was one of her most embarrassing moments. Not to be outdone, Esperanza said, "I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to" (page5).

    Read More

  • The House on Mango Street Cultural Values

    415 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • House On Mango Street Belonging

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    The House on Mango Street, a fictional book written by Sandra Cisneros is a book filled with many hidden messages. The book revolves around a young girl named Esperanza who feels out of place with the life she has. She sees that the things around her don’t really add up. The story is told from Esperanza’s perspective and the events she goes through to find herself. Through the strategy of fragmenting sentences, Cisneros establishes that the sense of not belonging, creates a person’s individuality that makes them who they are.

    Read More

  • The American Dream in The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...will pack my bags of books and paper. One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away.” (Cinceros 110) This shows how Esperanza needs to break free of Mango Street and move on because Mango Street has nothing more to offer a young free mind like Esperanza. She will move far away so she can continue on with her American Dream as one person and not have the weight of her family’s American Dream on her shoulders.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Women of House on Mango Street and Bread Givers

    1701 Words  | 4 Pages

    She was not a master of style, plot development or characterization, but the intensity of feeling and aspiration are evident in her narratives that overrides her imperfections. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deeply disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact. Esperanza, a Chicano with three sisters and one brother, has had a dream of having her own things since she was ten years old.

    Read More

  • Importance of the Monkey Garden in The House on Mango Street

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    Life as a kid is effortless, where the only motive is to have fun. Some people never want to have responsibility and complexity that comes with being an adult as they realize they must take accountability sometime. Likewise in "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza tries her best to avoid is renegade against the normal expectations of women on Mango Street. Esperanza's only way to avoid having to become part of the adult world around her, is by entering The Monkey Garden where she gets to be a kid. Esperanza's depiction of the serene and carefree descriptions of the garden contrast the confused and disturbed attitude Esperanza has towards Sally and the boys' game. As she finally realizes she cannot remain a kid forever, Esperanza feel alienated and alone.

    Read More

  • The House on Mango Street Cisneros's Style

    466 Words  | 1 Pages

    Sandra Cisneros's writing style in the novel The House on Mango Street transcends two genres, poetry and the short story. The novel is written in a series of poetic vignettes that make it easy to read. These distinguishing attributes are combined to create the backbone of Cisneros's unique style and structure.

    Read More

  • What a Home Really is in The House on Mango Street

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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.

    Read More

  • The House on Mango Street Feminist Elements

    473 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Childhood Innocence and Lessons in 'The House on Mango Street'

Open Document