Esperanza carries an undeniable love and respect for her father despite his absence and closed off personality. Since Esperanza and her family live in a six person household in poverty, her father has a big part in providing for the family. She explains, “My Papa, his thick hands and thick shoes, who wakes up tired in the dark, who combs his hair with water, drinks his coffee...is gone before we wake”(Cisneros 70). Esperanza’s use of thick hands and tiredness to describe the tough labour her father goes through holds a sense of respect that she has for him since she understands he has to do this for the survival of their family. However, to no fault of his own, the father’s absence creates a very private and unemotional relationship between
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
Esperanza tries to be a good friend to Sally, but ends up appearing immature and silly. Esperanza feels shame, as she “wanted to be dead”, to “turn into the rain”, and have “my eyes melt into the ground like black snails” (Cisneros 97). With sensory-rich imagery, the author uses similes and metaphors to describe Esperanza’s feelings of utter mortification as she embarrasses herself in front of Sally. Esperanza becomes confused about her newfound sexuality and her loss of innocence when she begins acting strangely, yet awkwardly around boys. She doesn’t know whether to act like a child or an adult because although she wants to be mature and glamorous like Sally, and she gets exposed to the harsh nature of society. The disillusioned view of becoming mature and having boys notice her is especially realized by Esperanza when she gets raped at a carnival. Through detailed imagery, Cisneros describes the dirtiness of the boy, elaborating on “his dirty fingernails against my skin” and “his sour smell again” (Cisneros 100) and the confusion and anger from Esperanza. After this experience, Esperanza blames Sally instead for covering up the truth about boys and is heartbroken about the real truth of sexuality and men. It is clear that Esperanza vividly remembers this awful experience, and just reflecting on this experience causes her thoughts to
Esperanza, the most liberated of the sisters, devoted her life to make other people’s lives better. She became a reporter and later on died while covering the Gulf Crisis. She returned home, to her family as a spirit. At first, she spoke through La Llorona, a messenger who informed La Loca that her sister has died. All her family members saw her. She appeared to her mother as a little girl who had a nightmare and went near to her mother for comfort. Caridad had conversations with her about politics and La Loca talked to her by the river behind their home.
1. Why do many people feel bad bringing up a disease in the same room with someone having the disease? How did Esperanza feel when she did that?
Esperanza’s father dreams of winning a home once he wins the lottery; one with “three washrooms” and an attic. Yet, Papa exists in the new country, all in hopes of moving the family forward, but still lacking a place to where he can truly belong. His life may be in the United States, but his heart is anchored in his beloved Mexico. This is evidenced in how deeply he cried when his own father died, and he realized that he was not there. The character of Mamacita is also affected by the need to belong somewhere.
In this chapter, Esperanza compares herself to the four skinny trees. She grows “down” by adjusting to her new setting, the house on Mango Street. She grows “up” by maturing into a young woman. This particular quote show the motif of “self-identity” it is one of the many times Esperanza uses inanimate objects to describe and reveal her self-identity. The sentence “Their strength is secret.” Suggests that like Esperanza, the trees are underdogs. Furthermore, Cisneros uses strong word choice to describe both the trees and Esperanza. The words “bite”, “violent”, and “anger” show strong word choice from the author. This particular word choice creates a mood tone despite the irony of the trees and Esperanza perceived of being weak, thus further proving the fact that Esperanza is a underdog. Esperanza may be perceived of being weak due to her female gender and her youth. The perception of Esperanza being weak brings up the motif of “gender stereotypes” because females, such as Esperanza, are generally perceived as weak while males are perceived as dominant and
Hairs: The author use's different crafts in the short story to create a quality piece of writing. In the short story the main subject is the comparison between Esperanza and her entire family. The author uses similes and metaphors to describe the different textures of their hair. Esperanza describes her fathers hair using a simile "My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up in the hair" (Cisneros). It causes the image of her fathers hair to come alive.
Esperanza is relying on her childhood to help her through life she feels like “a red balloon tied to an anchor” (9,1,3) This passage describes that Esperanza singles herself out for her differences instead of her similarities and she knows it. She also sees her differences as a source of her isolating herself. She floats in the sky for all of the rest of us to see, dangling from a string. Esperanza is longing on for an escape like a balloon similar to her experiences with our society. However against the face that Cisneroz gives her a light voice, doesn't mean that it's not just as strong and
Esperanza is really ashamed of the shabby neighborhood she lives in and goes to several measures to hide the fact that she is connected to Mango House in a certain way. When Esperanza wants to sit in the canteen to eat lunch with the other kids, the Nun makes Esperanza point to where her house is and as she has to point out her Esperanza is really ashamed, because she doesn’t want anyone to know that she lives at that certain place (45). Esperanza sees that many of her friends like Alicia are forced to wake up early in the morning and make tortillas for her family, while her only desire is education (31). She also sees that her friend Sally endures regular beatings from her dad, and eventually she gets married. As Esperanza grows, she begins to experience the power she has as a girl over boys. The first thing she discovers about her sexuality is when her and her friends explore the neighborhood while wearing high heeled shoes (64). Esperanza comes to the assumption that her physical beauty can help her escape from her surroundings, but she still doesn’t realize the powerful that men play in her society. As she’s plagued with unusual circumstances her mother and other people encourage her to not let the men in her society keep her from achieving her dreams. She
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....
There are multiple lessons we learn throughout the years we live, whether it be from a book or our friends and family. The book The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, is the coming-of-age story of Esperanza Cordero who goes through the hero’s journey. Throughout Esperanza’s life of living on Mango Street, she discovers the many realities life has to offer. Esperanza learns that sexual attention is dangerous and unwanted, to not stop what she is doing if she feels like she does not belong, and some things in life are not what you expect it to be through her own experiences and the experience the people and things around her go through.
“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.
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In the Book women are looked upon as objects by men whether they are boyfriends, friends fathers or husbands. The girls in the novel grow up with the mentality that looks and appearance are the most important things to a woman. Cisneros also shows how Latino women are expected to be loyal to their husbands, and that a husband should have complete control of the relationship. Yet on the other hand, Cisneros describes the character Esperanza as being different. Even though she is born and raised in the same culture as the women around her, she is not happy with it, and knows that someday she will break free from its ties, because she is mentally strong and has a talent for telling stories. She comes back through her stories by showing the women that they can be independent and live their own lives. In a way this is Cinceros' way of coming back and giving back to the women in her community.
The author illustrates social identity when Esperanza was shocked by the sight of her crying father and stated, “I have never seen my Papa cry and don’t know what to do” (lines 2-3). This displays Esperanza’s view of men—her Papa specifically—in society, as a strong people, both physically and emotionally. When he broke into tears, it was a big shock to her. Similarly, when my father cried while my grandfather was hospitalized from a heart attack, I was frozen in shock because my father, a strong man, was in tears. This proves my similarities with Esperanza’s view of society and social identity. An example showing Esperanza’s cultural identity was when she thought to herself, “I will have to tell them we can’t play. I will have to tell them to be quiet today” (lines 7-8). This quote is significant because it identifies Esperanza’s culture; their respect for the dead. Upon reflection of her experiences, I see similarities and I can relate with how my culture also respects the dead by being peaceful and quiet. These experiences have made me a respectful and polite individual. By comparing Esperanza’s struggles of social and cultural identity with mine, I realize that we are alike in many