Hope on Mango Street In the book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, a society where women are treated very badly and poverty is in abundance, is presented. After reading this book I have come to the conclusion that this book is a wonderful, yet depressing bildungsroman that contains important life lessons as well as the reality of life is like for a poor Hispanic girl growing up. Throughout the book there are many vignettes that are full of dreams that are never satisfied. The main character’s name in English means hope in Spanish. Throughout the book she is living hope. In the beginning of the book, Esperanza is a Hispanic girl dreaming of a house of her own. Esperanza grows up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago where many …show more content…
However, once Esperanza is assaulted, her opinion changes again and she does not want to be beautiful and cruel anymore. She finds herself in the position where she is unsure. “In the movies there is always one with red red lips who is beautiful and cruel. She is the one who drives the men crazy and laughs them all away. Her power is her own. She will not give it away. I have begun my own quiet war. Simple. Sure. I am one who leaves the table like a man, without putting back the chair or picking up the plate.” (p.89) The character development and change that occurs with Esperanza is very important because it will permanently change and define who she is and who she will become. At the very end of the book Esperanza’s maturity through selflessness is shown when she says how one day she will leave Mango Street, and the she will come back for the ones she left behind. This quote taken from an article where a writer gave her opinion on many of Cisneros’s works. It relates to my opinion in that it gives you a good feeling right along with harsh …show more content…
Plus we get here the thick situatedness of a book where every piece is a portrait, or a group portrait, or a memoir. These little stories have the stylish and color of folk art and the sharp poignancy of lives glimpsed as they press against their limits.” The novel is full of passages where we see a glimpse of what someone’s life is like when they have “reached their limits”. Sally is one such example of a life we barely see yet contains a great deal of problems and has difficulty living. She occasionally leaves Esperanza to go be with boyfriends and her father is abusive to her. She falls in love with a salesman whom she marries. He locks her in a room to “protect her” while he is gone. This book has had its ups and downs, and there are many things to be learned from it. Yes, it is sad, but the values revealed in a way specific to the book give a buoyant feeling of gratitude. If it was only a happy book, there is no way the messages of hope, friendship, and reality could have been conveyed in as good of a
Esperanza is the heart and soul of this story. She changes and develops new habits over the course of the book. Because of how the book is written, she’s also the main character who gives the story it’s unity. Everything in the story is told in her perspective anyway so she could be the narrator and the protagonist. Even the stories about other characters have some sort of connection with Esperanza. She is The House On Mango Street, she is Esperanza.
In the poor slums of Chicago, a family living in poverty struggles to get by. In the book, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza is a twelve year old girl who lives with her family in the Windy City. She lives with her three siblings and both parents on Mango Street. Esperanza has no control over her life and family’s poverty. People who have no control over their life desperately seek change. Esperanza seeks to change her name, her home, and her destiny as a way to control her life.
Gabriela Quintanilla Mrs. Allen A.P English 12 12 March 2014 The House on Mango Street Sandra Cisneros once said “'Hispanic' is English for a person of Latino origin who wants to be accepted by the white status quo. ’ Latino' is the word we have always used for ourselves.” In the novel I read, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, the main character, a twelve-year-old Chicana (Mexican-American girl), Esperanza, saw self-definition as a struggle, this was a major theme in the novel through Esperanza’s actions and the ones around her. Esperanza tries to find identity in herself as a woman as well as an artist throughout the novel through her encounters.
Esperanza was a cowardly child who transformed into a brave woman. Alicia and Esperanza had a conversation about Mango Street and Alicia says, “Like it or not you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too,” (Cisneros 107). Esperanza replies with, “Not me. Not until somebody makes it better,” (Cisneros 107). Alicia tells Esperanza that even though she does not like Mango Street, she will still come back, but Esperanza says she will not until someone makes it better. Esperanza does not want to go back to Mango Street even though she is a part of it. Esperanza wants to leave Mango Street for good. Although Esperanza knows she is a part of Mango Street, she does not want to be. The ignorant child believed she could leave Mango behind and forget about where she came from, but little does she know that someone will. When Esperanza decides to leave Mango Street, she says, “They will not know I have gone away to come back. For the ones I left behind. For the ones who cannot out,” (Cisneros 110). Esperanza will leave Mango Street to come back and help those who cannot escape. Esperanza is leaving not for herself, but for others. She grasped the understanding that nobody would do anything to help Mango Street, or care about what happens to it, and decides to take matters into her own hands. Esperanza realizes that she has to be the one to change Mango Street. Throughout the story
Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street is an well-incorporated story told through vignettes shorts sections that piece by piece fit into a puzzle and reveal a theme. This unique story is about a disadvantaged young Chicana girl, named Esperanza, growing up in a poor neighborhood where she feels she does not belong. She does not like what she experiences, and constantly searches for a new future. As Esperanza grows and changes throughout the book, she realizes that women in her culture are treated unfairly, and makes a conscious choice not to fall into the same trap as the women around her.
Esperanza, who faces multiple struggles while living in a Latino community in Chicago on Mango Street. Esperanza is not happy being raised in the same culture as the other women around her and living as a Mexican American in the U.S. culture. Throughout the novel, Cisneros describes the problems women face, like fighting for equality, respect, and freedom within a Hispanic society. In her novel, Cisneros emphasizes the struggles that Esperanza and Latino women had to face in the U.S. society during the middle of the twentieth century.
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.
...working, caring young woman, through hardship and misfortune. This transformation shows that anyone can adjust, and that it is never too late to change your ways and become a different person. Anybody can become nicer if they try, and everyone should, just like Esperanza. By the end of the novel, she realizes how much she has changed for the better, as is shown on the last page of the book (253). “Esperanza smiled and reached over and gently pulled the yarn, unraveling the uneven stitching. Then she looked into Isabel’s trusting eyes and said, ‘Do not be afraid to start over.’” This line, the final line of the entire book, demonstrates that Esperanza realizes that she is different from the person she used to be, and has learned that it was a good transformation. She recognizes that it is a good thing to start anew, and that change should not be feared, but embraced.
In the vignette, “Darius and the Clouds,” Esperanza realizes, “You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky” (Cisneros 33). This event in the novel proves that Esperanza is growing up because she realizes that you don’t need money to be happy. She is making the best out of what she has. Esperanza also shows change in “Bums in the Attic.” She says, “One day I’ll own my own house, but I won’t forget who I am or where I came from” (Cisneros 87). This quote is effective because it adds to the reader’s appreciation of the story, since many people can relate. Identity can be changed by influences from people or an environment, but some things are permanent. Esperanza must change some parts of her identity to become her true self, the person she has been searching
The House on Mango Street illustrates how Esperanza wants to leave Mango Street, but at the same time she knows that at the present moment she cannot. The young girl understands that even though she will one day "say goodbye to Mango," it is a place that was and will always be part of her and who she is. (Cisneros 110). As critic Julian Olivares has noted, "o...
This is one of the most important chapters because this is where Esperanza shows that she is growing up from a girl to a woman. Esperanza says that someday she “wants to be all new and shiny.” She says that she wants to sit out bad and have a boy hanging all over her. I find this interesting because I’m sure that everyone goes through something like this where we want to be rebellious and defy our parents. These are just some of the signs that Esperanza does not want to accept what her parents say is law, and she wants to try out some things of her own. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, Esperanza does not say that Sire is a punk, her father does. With children, this is not a good way to be. This just makes Sire seem exciting and sparks Esperanza’s interest to be around him.
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.
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
Readers have interpreted this novel in a personal way, leaving some aspects of the novel to be forgotten or over looked. Either way readers are given the opportunity to ask what the literature can tell them about themselves. Through analysis of the novel readers can infer that Esperanza is Mango Street, as well as the readers are Esperanza. So, readers must consider what to do with and about Mango Street and how it applies to
This written passage is an ideal depiction of how much Esperanza’s character changed by the end of this story. Her character began as a childish girl and transformed into a mature young lady, a lady who gained a great deal of compassion, empathy, and self-esteem.